The United Nations World Food
Programme (WFP) said that thousands of civilians on Sunday
stormed a warehouse in Gaza's middle area where it is storing
food, a sign of the hunger and desperation people are
experiencing amid the Hamas-Israel war.
The Rome-based UN agency said the events followed a harrowing
24-hour communication blackout and persistent access challenges
that brought all WFP operations to a halt, leaving staff and
partners incommunicado.
The warehouse was used to store some of the supplies from the
trucks loaded with humanitarian supplies coming from Egypt ahead
of distribution to displaced families.
The warehouse contained some 80 tons of mixed food commodities,
mainly canned food, wheat flour and sunflower oil, it said.
"This is a sign of people losing hope and becoming more
desperate by the minute," said Samer Abdeljaber, the WFP
Representative and Country Director in Palestine.
"They are hungry, isolated, and have been suffering violence and
immense distress for three weeks.
"We need a humanitarian pause to be able to reach the people in
need with food, water and basic necessities safely and
effectively.
"Much more access is urgently needed, and the trickle of
supplies needs to become a flow."
Fuel shortages and loss of connectivity also threaten to bring
humanitarian operations to a halt, the WFP said.
Without additional fuel supplies, bakeries working with WFP in
Gaza are no longer operational and transporters cannot deliver
food where it's needed, it said.
The WFP said it plans to provide food lifeline to over one
million people who are going hungry now and needs a steady
supply of food with at least 40 WFP trucks to cross daily into
Gaza to be able to meet the escalating needs.
So far emergency food and cash assistance has reached over
635,200 people in both Gaza and the West bank, it said.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
