The head of the UN food agency said it had become “absolutely clear” during her visit to Gaza this week that the Palestinian region was facing severe food shortages. She also held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the critical need for increased humanitarian support.
Last week, a leading international expert on food crises said Gaza's largest city was plunged into a famine that was likely to engulf the entire region unless a ceasefire was reached and restrictions on humanitarian supplies were lifted.
Cindy McCain, head of the World Food Program, told the Associated Press that a major famine had begun in the Gaza Strip.
“I personally saw mothers and children suffering from malnutrition in Gaza,” she stressed.
“This is reality happening right now.”
Netanyahu, she said, “is clearly deeply concerned about the lack of food supplies for the population.”
He had previously denied the existence of a famine in Gaza, calling such claims propaganda spread by the Hamas group.
“We have agreed on the urgent need to double the volume of humanitarian supplies. The key issues remain access and security for our convoys,” McCain said.
The official recognition of the famine has increased international demands on Israel, which has been waging military action against Hamas since the militants' attack on October 7, 2023.
Israel has announced its intention to take control of Gaza City and other strategic Hamas locations, but there has been no public sign of progress in ceasefire negotiations.
Israel rejected the report by the food safety body known as the IPC, demanding an official retraction on Wednesday.
Israel's military agency COGAT, which oversees humanitarian supplies, said on Thursday that more than 300 trucks carrying aid, mostly food, were entering Gaza every day.
But aid groups insist these measures are not enough after 22 months of conflict, an aid blockade earlier this year and a collapse of local food production.
McCain spent much of Tuesday visiting displaced persons camps in Gaza, where people are living in tents and facing severe food shortages.
“I met a family of 11 who had migrated from the north. They have almost no food and the situation is not improving,” she said.
McCain confirmed that her organization is increasing supplies, but stressed the need for a sharp increase in food aid.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called the humanitarian situation in Gaza a “modern-day catastrophe” and Israel's escalating military operations a “dangerous new phase.”
He warned of “catastrophic consequences” that would force hundreds of thousands of traumatized civilians to flee the fighting again.
“Gaza is covered in rubble, dead bodies and evidence of potential violations of international law,” he said.
Mediators Egypt and Qatar are awaiting Israel's reaction to a 60-day truce proposal in Gaza previously accepted by Hamas, the Qatari foreign minister said on Thursday.
The agreement, handed to Israel earlier this month, calls for the release of 10 living hostages and the handing over of 18 bodies in exchange for a ceasefire, according to Arab negotiators.
The document also provides for the withdrawal of Israeli troops to a buffer zone in the Gaza Strip.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
