WFP: 2.2m people in Gaza need urgent food assistance

Some 2.2 million Palestinians, nearly the entire population of the besieged Gaza Strip, need urgent food assistance, the World Food Program (WFP) said yesterday.

The United Nations programme added in a statement that “hundreds of thousands are crammed into overcrowded shelters and hospitals, with food and water running out,” as a result of the devastating war that Israel has been waging for 48 days on the Strip.

The statement said “a sharp escalation of the conflict in Gaza has left the entire population in desperate and catastrophic conditions.”

Around 2.2 million people in #Gaza need urgent food assistance. Existing food systems are collapsing, and to reach those in need, WFP and our partners need increased access and resources like fuel, gas, and connectivity.To make a real impact, we need hostilities to halt.

— World Food Programme (@WFP) November 21, 2023

“WFP was working with 23 bakeries in Gaza at the start of its emergency response, providing bread for 200,000 people in shelters. But food systems are collapsing. The last bakery that WFP had been working with was shut down because it had no fuel or gas,” it said.

It called for “a cessation of hostilities and safe access for food and fuel supplies” to enable the organisation to carry out its operations inside Gaza “as quickly as possible.”

For the 48th day in a row, the Israeli occupation army has bombed Gaza, killing more than 14,532 Palestinians, including more than 6,000 children, and wounding more than 35,000 others.

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