No food has entered northern Gaza since the start of October, putting 1 million people at risk of going hungry, the World Food Programme told CNN on Friday.
In August, approximately 700 hundred aid trucks entered northern Gaza. In September, only 400 aid trucks entered, after commercial operations ceased at the Allenby Crossing on the border between the occupied West Bank and Jordan, the WFP added. No food trucks have entered northern Gaza in October, the WFP told CNN.
On Wednesday, the WFP said in a report that the aid entering the strip has plummeted to its lowest level in months, forcing the organization to stop the distribution of food parcels in October.
“Hunger remains rampant and the threat of famine persists,” WFP added. “If the flow of assistance does not resume, one million vulnerable people will be deprived on this lifeline.” – Source
Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 but kept it under a land, air and sea blockade since 2007.
In January 2024, Israeli authorities blocked 56% of humanitarian aid to northern Gaza.[156] On 9 February 2024, UNRWA director Philippe Lazzarini said that Israel had blocked food for 1.1 million Palestinians in Gaza. – Source
The European Union has said it is deeply concerned about draft Israeli legislation that would ban the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees from operating in Israel and likely scale back aid distribution across war-ravaged Gaza.
Earlier this week, an Israeli parliamentary committee approved a bill that would ban UNRWA from operating in Israeli territory and end all contact between the government and the UN agency. The bill needs final approval from the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
“The European Union expresses its grave concern about the draft bill on UNRWA currently discussed in the Israeli parliament,” it said in a statement released on Saturday. – Source
Although the Israel Land Authority, a governmental body, announced on Thursday that it plans to turn the U.N. Relief and Works Agency field office in Jerusalem’s Ma’alot Dafna neighbourhood into a complex with 1,440 housing units.
The Israeli governmental body informed UNRWA in May that it had to vacate the premises within 30 days and pay the Jewish state rent, for the years it used the facility, of about US$7 million. – Source
UNRWA confirms that on
14 October, the Israeli Army artillery fired shells inside and outside the UNRWA jabalia food distribution center. At least 10 people were reportedly killed and another 40 were injured. This happened while people were trying to get food from the centre. – Source
Nearly 230 workers for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency have died in Gaza following Israel’s counterattack, according to the agency. That number makes up a large portion of the estimated 280-plus aid workers and 885 health workers killed in the densely populated enclave, where civilians have become ensnared in the intense fighting between Israel and the militant group. – Source
The World Central Kitchen aid convoy attack occurred on 1 April 2024, when Israeli drones targeted a three-car convoy belonging to the World Central Kitchen (WCK) in the Gaza Strip, killing seven aid workers.[1][2] The workers had been overseeing the transfer of a shipment of food from a makeshift pier to a warehouse some distance away in the northern Gaza Strip, which has been pushed close to famine by Israel’s invasion and blockade during the Israel–Hamas war. – Source
h/t External-Noise-4832