UN Warns: One Quarter of Gaza’s Population One Step Away from Famine
A senior official with the United Nations aid agency told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that at least 576,000 people in the Gaza Strip, representing a quarter of the population, are just one step away from famine, according to Reuters.
Ramesh Rajasingham, the director of coordination at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, announced, “Nothing significant can be achieved amid ongoing hostilities and the possibility of their spreading to densely populated areas in southern Gaza. Therefore, we reiterate our call for a ceasefire.”
He added that one in every six children under the age of two in northern Gaza suffers from acute malnutrition and wasting, and that all of the 2.3 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip rely on “grossly inadequate” food assistance to survive.
He further stated that the UN and relief organizations face “enormous obstacles in simply delivering the minimum supplies to Gaza,” explaining that obstacles include border closures, restrictions on movement and communication, exhaustive verification procedures, unrest, damaged roads, and unexploded ordnance.
Additionally, Robert Wood, the Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the UN Security Council, stated that Washington urged its ally Israel to keep border crossings open to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza and facilitate the opening of more crossings.
The World Food Programme warned on Tuesday of an “imminent” famine in northern Gaza, where no humanitarian organization has been able to provide aid since January 23 amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
Carl Skau, the Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Programme, told the 15-member Security Council, “WFP stands ready to expand our operations and scale them up rapidly if a ceasefire agreement is reached.”
He added, “But at present, the risk of famine is exacerbated by the inability to bring in vital food supplies to Gaza in sufficient quantities, and the near-impossible working conditions faced by our staff on the ground.”
Algeria’s Ambassador to the UN, Amar Benjamal, informed the Security Council that “the aggression against Gaza is not a war against Hamas but rather collective punishment imposed on the Palestinian people.”
The UN Security Council held an open session at 8:00 pm GMT on Tuesday to discuss the food security situation in Gaza, at the request of Algeria, Guyana, Switzerland, and Slovenia, according to a statement from the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Earlier on Tuesday, the United Nations announced that Israeli forces were systematically preventing access to Gaza residents in need of assistance, complicating the task of delivering aid to an area at war with no legal oversight.
It is worth noting that Israeli authorities have recently prevented all aid convoys planned for the north from entering. The last aid allowed to enter was on January 23, according to the World Health Organization.
