The World Food Program (WFP) has warned that the escalating violence in northern Gaza, where Israeli troops are once again concentrating their offensive, is having a “devastating impact on the food security” of thousands of Palestinian families.
According to the United Nations agency, in a statement released on Saturday, no food aid has entered the north of the Palestinian enclave since October 1st.
In northern Gaza, food distribution points, as well as kitchens and bakeries, have been forced to close due to air strikes, military ground operations and evacuation orders.
The only bakery that was operating, supported by the WFP, caught fire after being hit by explosives.
“The north is basically isolated and we can’t operate there,” said the WFP’s director for Palestine, Antoine Renard, in a statement published on Saturday on the agency’s website, warning that ‘the risk of famine is real’.
No one in Gaza has received the WFP’s most substantial food parcels this month, which contain pasta, rice, olive oil and canned meat.
In southern and central Gaza, the situation is also at breaking point due to insecurity around the crossing points.
There is no food distribution and bakeries are struggling to secure wheat flour, the WFP pointed out, warning of the urgent need for “safe and sustained access” to Gaza to provide food assistance, which presupposes the opening of “more crossing points” and the security of staff and partners.
Israel has launched an offensive against Hamas, particularly in the Gaza Strip, since the Palestinian Islamist movement launched an unprecedented attack on Israeli soil a year ago, causing 1,200 deaths and more than 200 hostages, according to Israel.
Since the start of the war on October 7 last year, 42,126 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip and 98,117 injured, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, which also estimates that there are 10,000 bodies trapped under the rubble.
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