Palestinians in the war-torn Gaza Strip are suffering severe food shortages, forcing some families to ration food and skip meals to survive.
Since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas after a deadly incursion by the Islamist movement almost seven months ago, the number of trucks carrying aid to the Gaza Strip has decreasedespecially in the northern coastal region.
Some Gaza residents have complained of not having vegetables for weeks and of having to ration food that they receive charity. Many families eat only one meal a day to survive due to food shortages.
UN officials warn of ‘widespread famine’ in Gaza
On Friday, a senior UN official said that northern Gazabadly hit, was now plunged into a “total starvation” amid severe Israeli restrictions on food deliveries to the Palestinian territory.
Cindy McCainthe American director of the United Nations World Food Program, became the most prominent international official yet to declare that civilians trapped in the most isolated part of Gaza were on the brink of starvation.
“It’s a horror” McCain told NBC’s “Meet the Press” in an interview broadcast Sunday.
“ There is a famine – a full-blown famine – in the north, and it is moving south. »
She stated that a Ceasefire and a significantly increased flow of aid via land and sea routes were essential to address the growing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, where 2.3 million people live.
There was no no immediate comment from Israelwhich controls entry into Gaza and claims that it begins authorizing more food and other humanitarian aid via land crossing points.
No help to avoid starvation
The panel which serves as an internationally recognized observer of food crises said in March that northern Gaza was on the brink of famine and he would probably know her in May.
Since March, northern Gaza has received no aid comparable to that needed to avert famine, a humanitarian official from the US Agency for International Development for Gaza told the Associated Press. The next update of the panel will not occur until this summer.
The war between Israel and Hamas erupted on October 7, when militants from the Islamist movement attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 hostage.
Israel has since launched an air and ground attack on the Gaza Strip, killing more than 34,600 people and injuring almost 78,000 as well as causing widespread destruction.