World Food Program renews call for sustained access to Gaza to provide food

By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA) – The UN World Food Program (WFP) on Tuesday renewed the call for sustained access to Gaza to provide a food lifeline.

“The situation over there is catastrophic and our stocks inside Gaza are running out,” said Corinne Fleischer, WFP regional director for Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe, in a statement.

“Every day that passes pushed more and more people closer to starvation,” she added.

“The situation is dire. It is unlike anything we have seen before here,” said Samer Abdeljaber, WFP’s country director in the state of Palestine.

He added, “Heart-wrenchingly, hundreds of people are queueing for hours every day to get bread rations at bakeries across Gaza, while food is there, ready for distribution, just across the border.”

Last week Israel drastically tightened its longstanding blockade on the Gaza Strip, cutting off its electricity, water, and food supplies.

International groups and leaders denounced the move as a form of illegal collective punishment, amid warnings that doing this to over 2.2 million Gazans risks a humanitarian catastrophe.

The current fighting began on Oct. 7 when Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, a multi-pronged surprise attack that included a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel by land, sea, and air. It said the incursion was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and increased violence by Israeli settlers.

The Israeli military then launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.

An estimated total of at least 2,848 Palestinians, including 750 children, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, while the death toll from such Israeli attacks in the West Bank has reached 60.

More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed in the armed conflict.