GENEVA: The UN World Food Programme said Friday that food deliveries to Gaza have increased since the October ceasefire, but remain far below the vast humanitarian needs, with winter rains now threatening to spoil the supplies that do arrive.
“Things are better than before the ceasefire, but we have a long way to go. Sustained support is an important endeavour to help families rebuild their health, their nutrition, and their lives,” WFP spokesperson Martin Penner told reporters in Geneva via video link from the Gaza Strip.
The WFP says hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza still urgently need food assistance. In August, a global food monitoring body reported that at least half a million people were facing famine conditions in parts of the enclave.
Earlier this week, heavy rainfall hit Gaza, spoiling and washing away some of the food that residents had been storing — a sign of the mounting challenges families face as winter approaches, according to senior WFP spokesperson Abeer Etefa.
Since the fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire took effect on October 10 — ending two years of conflict that devastated much of the densely populated territory and triggered a humanitarian crisis — the WFP has delivered 40,000 tons of food aid into Gaza.
However, due to earlier logistical obstacles, the agency has reached only about 30 percent of its targeted food parcel distribution, assisting roughly 530,000 of the 1.6 million people in need. The WFP says it has now begun to make up lost ground.
Though Gaza’s markets are reviving, food prices remain high for Palestinians, many of whom lost their income during the war, with a chicken costing $25, meaning many are reliant on food aid, the WFP said.
The WFP reported that a woman in Khan Younis said she avoids taking her children to the market so they won’t see the food on display that the family cannot afford.
“If they go near the market, she tells them to cover their eyes,” Penner stated.
