UN Warns of Famine in Gaza Unless All Border Crossings Are Opened

The UN World Food Programme has warned that food aid cannot reach everyone in Gaza unless all border crossings are opened, particularly in the north, where famine was declared in August. The agency has enough supplies to feed the entire population of the Strip for three months, but access to all crossings is necessary to deliver the aid. As of now, only two crossings are open, and those in the north remain closed, restricting deliveries to the hardest hit areas.

Key Takeaways:

• The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has sufficient supplies to feed the entire population of Gaza for three months, but requires full access to all border crossings to deliver the aid.
• Five distribution points are currently operating across Gaza, and the WFP aims to expand to 145 distribution points across the entire Strip.
• Aid agencies stress that sustained access and multiple crossings are essential to reach everyone in need, especially in the north where famine was declared in August.
• The WFP has enough supplies to scale up to 170,000 tonnes, enough to feed 1.6 million people over three months, but needs to maintain at least three months of stocks at all times.
• UN Women's Chief of Humanitarian Action, Sofia Calltorp, urged the international community to prioritize recovery led by women and girls in Gaza, as over one million women and girls require food aid and a quarter of a million require urgent nutrition support.

Statistics:

• 560 tonnes of food are being brought into Gaza each day by the WFP.
• 57,000 tonnes of food are already pre-positioned in Egypt, Jordan, and inside Israel.
• 170,000 tonnes of aid are planned to be scaled up to feed 1.6 million people over three months.
• One-third of the 950 trucks that entered Gaza on October 16 passed through UN-coordinated mechanisms.

Sources:

• United Nations
• UN World Food Programme
• UN aid coordination office (OCHA)
• UN Women