2 million Gazans suffer food insecurity amid Israeli war: UN agency

By Anadolu staff

ISTANBUL (AA) - Two million people in Gaza suffer food insecurity amid a devastating Israeli onslaught on the enclave, the World Food Program (WFP) warned Thursday.

Voicing concern about "shrinking operational space for aid agencies" in Gaza, the WFP said the Karam Abu Salem commercial crossing, also known as Kerem Shalom, "isn't accessible due to active conflict."

The UN food body published a video showing quantities of food parcels being packed in its warehouse in Abu Rawash area in central Egypt in preparations for dispatch to "vulnerable families in Gaza."

The WFP was the latest international agency to warn of famine risks in Gaza as the entry of humanitarian aid trucks fell significantly since Israel's capture of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, a vital route to humanitarian aid, on May 6.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas.

More than 38,000 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 87,400 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Over eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar