Scarcity of food in Gaza risk lives of 300,000 people

The lack of food risks the lives of about 300,000 people in north and central Gaza. The agencies are blocked from providing any humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned that people may lose their lives due to scarcity of food on Thursday. 

According to the UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini, it has been more than two weeks since the agency was allowed to deliver the supplies to Gaza. The last delivery of humanitarian aid is noted on January 23. 

Moreover, other agencies have also reported disruptions in relief deliveries to the Palestinian territory, which has been bombarded by Israel since a deadly Hamas attack which occurred on October 7, 2023. 

“Since the beginning of the year, half of our aid mission requests to the north were denied”, remarked Lazzarini. 

The UN noted that due to the scarcity of food in Gaza, people are on the verge of being feminine. As estimated, around 300,000 people are dependent on the agencies for aid. 

Israel has sealed the small and densely populated area and ordered people who were living in north and central Gaza to shift to the south as it pursued those who were responsible for the October 7 attack. 

Noting this, more than half of Gaza is currently crowded by approximately 2.4 million people who took shelter in the city of Rafah on the south coast. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered troops to be prepared to attack due to an overcrowding population. 

The director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza – Thomas White, noted, “There was now “enormous concern” about a looming offensive in Rafah, where the agency bases its operation for the whole of the Gaza Strip.”

He continued his statement that the situation seems to be very difficult to manage an aid operation and its execution if they asked to move from Rafah. The situation is very worst in Gaza, and they are struggling to meet the demands of the people’s rights. 

“If there are hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people on the move again, we just do not have the resources to support them, but also operationally, we will not be able to effectively or safely run operations from a city that’s under assault from the Israeli army”, added White. 

The head of the UN humanitarian agency OCHA in Gaza said that the territory was turned ‘into a wasteland of hunger and despair.’