WFP food deliveries to northern Gaza face further setbacks

ROME / GAZA CITY – Efforts by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to deliver desperately needed food supplies to Northern Gaza resumed today but were largely unsuccessful.

A 14-truck food convoy – the first by WFP since it paused deliveries to the north on 20 February – was turned back by the Israeli Defence Force after a three-hour wait at the Wadi Gaza checkpoint.

“Although today’s convoy did not make it to the north to provide food to the people who are starving, WFP continues to explore every possible means to do so,” said Carl Skau, WFP’s deputy executive director.

After being turned away the trucks were rerouted and later stopped by a large crowd of desperate people who looted the food, taking around 200 tons, from the trucks.

Road routes are the only option to transport the large quantities of food needed to avert famine in northern Gaza.

Earlier today, with the help of the Royal Jordanian Air Force, WFP food supplies for 20,000 people (6 tons) were dropped in northern Gaza.

“Airdrops are a last resort and will not avert famine. We need entry points to northern Gaza that will allow us to deliver enough food for half a million people in desperate need,” Skau added.

Hunger has reached catastrophic levels in the north of Gaza where children are dying of hunger-related diseases and suffering severe levels of malnutrition. A massive relief operation requires more entry points into Gaza, including from the north, and the use of Ashdod port.

A ceasefire in Gaza is urgently needed to enable an operation of this size. With greater safety for humanitarian staff to move food and other supplies regularly throughout the Strip and with routes in from the North, WFP and its partners can prevent famine.