WFP warns: We are racing against time to stop famine in Gaza

The World Food Programme warned Thursday that it is in a race against time to avert a full-scale famine in Gaza and that safe and unrestricted access is needed. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society described Israel's permission for a small number of aid trucks to enter the Gaza Strip this week as an "invitation to murder."

The World Food Programme said in a statement that the humanitarian aid that has reached Gaza is just a drop in the ocean.

The program's director in the Palestinian territories said in a statement to reporters that a small number of bakeries in southern and central Gaza supported by the program resumed bread production after trucks were finally able to bring in

Supplies from Kerem Shalom crossing.

For his part, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food said that Israel is using hunger as a weapon against civilians, and called on the UN General Assembly to break the siege and stop the starvation of 2.3 million Palestinians.

Call to kill

The Palestinian Red Crescent considered the Israeli occupation's permission for a small number of aid trucks to enter the Gaza Strip this week an "invitation to murder" due to the possibility of them being looted.

Red Crescent Society Chairman Younis al-Khatib told reporters he could prove that no one received aid. He added that it did not reach civilians, and that most of the trucks remain at the Kerem Shalom border crossing, where they are being inspected, but have not entered Gaza.

Earlier, Palestinian officials said some food aid would reach some of Gaza's most needy residents on Thursday after Israel allowed some trucks into the territory, but they stressed that the amount was not enough to make up for the shortage caused by the 11-week blockade.

Dozens of deaths

For his part, Palestinian Health Minister Majed Abu Ramadan said that 29 children and elderly people have died from hunger-related causes in Gaza over the past two days, and that thousands more are at risk of dying from the same causes.

Food aid is expected to begin reaching Gaza residents on Thursday after Israel allowed the first trucks to enter after an 11-week blockade, but Palestinian officials and aid organizations say this will only meet a fraction of the needs.

Abu Ramadan initially told reporters that 29 children had died in the past two days, indicating that they had died from starvation. He later clarified that this number included the elderly and children.

alarming number

Asked about previous press statements by a UN official about the possibility of 14,000 infant deaths without aid, the minister said, "The figure of 14,000 is very realistic, and may be an underestimate."

Abu Ramadan said that only 7 or 8 of Gaza's 36 hospitals are partially functioning, and that more than 90% of medical supplies have been depleted due to the blockade.

He added that the information available to him indicated that between 90 and 100 trucks loaded with aid had entered southern and central Gaza. When asked whether any medical supplies were among them, he said his information indicated that only flour had arrived for bakeries.

The Gaza Strip needs 500 trucks of urgent relief, medical, and food aid daily, and at least 50 trucks of life-saving fuel, according to a statement issued by the government media office last Monday.

With American support, Israel has been committing genocidal crimes in Gaza since October 7, 2023, leaving more than 175,000 Palestinians dead or wounded—mostly children and women—and more than 11,000 missing, in addition to hundreds of thousands displaced.