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08-03-2024
UNITED NATIONS/ GAZA CITY: The World Food Program (WFP) says its first attempt in two weeks to bring food aid to northern Gaza was blocked by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The UN agency says the convoy of 14 Lorries was “turned back” at a checkpoint and was later looted by crowds of “desperate people”.
Media has contacted the IDF for comment.
It comes a day after the World Health Organization (WHO) said children are dying of starvation in northern Gaza.
In a statement, the WFP said efforts to “deliver desperately needed food supplies” to the area resumed on Tuesday “but were largely unsuccessful”.
The agency says the convoy was turned back by the IDF after a three-hour wait at the Wadi Gaza checkpoint.
The trucks were then rerouted and “later stopped by a large crowd of desperate people who looted the food, taking around 200 tons from the trucks”, the WFP said.
Media contacted the IDF for comment, which directed any questions towards Cogat, the Israeli defence ministry body tasked with coordinating aid access in Gaza.
It was the WFP’s first attempt to deliver supplies to northern Gaza in a fortnight.
On 20 February, the agency said it was suspending food deliveries to the area because its recent convoys had endured “complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order”, including violent looting.
Last Thursday, more than 100 Palestinians were killed as crowds rushed to reach an aid convoy, operated by private contractors, that was being escorted by Israeli forces west of Gaza City.
Palestinian health officials said dozens were killed when Israeli forces opened fire. Israel’s military said most died from either being trampled or run over by the aid Lorries. It said soldiers near the convoy had fired towards people who approached them and who they considered a threat.
Carl Skau, the WFP’s deputy executive director, told Turkey’s Anadolu news agency that the danger of such an incident happening was part of the reason the aid deliveries were put on hold two weeks ago.
“We were criticized by everyone for pausing but we did that because we were fearing what happened two days ago; we are looking at ways to get back,” he said.
Meanwhile, the US says it airdropped 36,000 meals into northern Gaza on Tuesday in co-ordination with Jordan, the second such joint mission in recent days.
The UN has warned that famine in Gaza is “almost inevitable” without action, and the WHO says that children are dying of starvation in the north of the Strip.
A lack of food resulted in the deaths of 10 children and “severe levels of malnutrition”, while hospital buildings have been destroyed, the agency’s chief said on Monday. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
