Urgent call for humanitarian aid as Gaza faces food crisis

Fifteen World Food Programme (WFP) trucks carrying critical aid and food supplies were looted late last night in southern Gaza, the United Nations agency confirmed today.

These trucks were en route to bakeries supported by WFP, intended to provide essential food to a population suffering after weeks of near-total blockade by Israel.

The looting, driven by desperation amid severe food shortages and growing anxiety, represents a serious setback to humanitarian efforts that had only just begun to resume following an eleven-week blockade that severely restricted aid access, the UN stated.

Earlier this week, Israel allowed a limited number of aid trucks to enter Gaza for the first time in nearly three months.

The WFP expressed deep concern over the looting, emphasizing that the stolen supplies were crucial for “hungry populations waiting anxiously for assistance.” This incident underscores the dire situation faced by Gaza’s 2.1 million residents, many of whom are grappling with hunger, anxiety, and increasing insecurity.

This uncertainty is “contributing to rising insecurity” on the ground, WFP remarked, calling for urgent cooperation from Israeli authorities to allow larger volumes of aid to enter Gaza safely and consistently, as was the case during previous ceasefires.

Just yesterday, approximately ninety aid trucks carrying food, medicines, nutrition supplies, and other essentials began moving deeper into Gaza from the Kerem Shalom crossing. Footage shared by WFP showed workers carrying sacks of flour into warehouses and bakeries starting to produce bread once again. However, the agency cautioned that bread alone was insufficient to meet the population’s basic nutritional needs.

WFP Deputy Country Director Vladimir Jovcev described the recent aid deliveries as a “critical first step” but warned that much more is urgently needed to avert famine. “More essential food is needed to push back the risk of famine,” he stated.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also noted the insufficiency of the aid allowed in thus far, pointing out that vital supplies such as fresh food, hygiene products, water purification agents, and fuel for hospitals have been blocked for over eighty days.

The combination of prolonged blockade, lack of food, and growing fears that aid deliveries will remain inadequate is driving some desperate individuals to loot aid trucks.

Gaza’s Health Ministry recently revealed that at least twenty-nine individuals, all of whom were children and the elderly, have died from famine.