UNITED NATIONS – The northern Gaza Strip is still heading toward a famine, the deputy UN food chief said, appealing for a greater volume and diversity of aid to be allowed into the enclave and for Israel to allow direct access from its Ashdod port through Erez crossing.
Israel pledged three weeks ago to improve aid access, including reopening Erez and allowing the use of Ashdod port.
The move came after US President Joe Biden demanded steps to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, saying the US could place conditions on support if Israel did not act.
“We certainly welcome those commitments and some of them have been partly implemented. Some remain to be implemented,” World Food Programme (WFP) Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau said according to Reuters, adding that for WFP there had been an “uptick” in getting aid in and some progress in accessing northern Gaza.
“But it’s far from enough. We need volume and we need diversity of goods and we really need consistency,” he said. “We’re still heading towards a famine (in the north).”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said last week that Israel’s commitments to improve aid access in the Gaza Strip had so far had limited and sometimes no impact.
A UN-backed report published in March said famine was imminent and likely by May in northern Gaza and could spread across the enclave of 2.3 million people by July.
Both Skau – and UN humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, Sigrid Kaag, who briefed the UN Security Council Wednesday – said more nutritional and medical aid needed to enter Gaza to avert a famine.
“For example, treating acutely malnourished children or pregnant women is not a matter of eating more calories. They require therapeutic and supplemental foods as well as long-term medical care,” Kaag told the Security Council.
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