The United Nations’ World Food Programme on Tuesday said the food situation in the besieged and blockaded Gaza Strip was running “really short”, as aid for the Palestinian enclave piled up at the only crossing not controlled by Israel.
The statement comes amid a deepening humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave of 2.3 million people, where Israel prepares to escalate an offensive after a surprise attack by Hamas on Oct 7.
Gaza authorities say more than 2,800 people have been killed in Israeli bombing, around a quarter of them children, and nearly 11,000 wounded are in hospitals desperately short of supplies.
Key developments
- WHO meeting ‘decision-makers’ today to open Gaza access as soon as possible
- Over 2,800 Palestinians killed, nearly 11,000 wounded since Oct 7
- Israel says 199 hostages taken by Hamas fighters
- Biden set to visit Israel; Chinese envoy heads to Middle East
“Inside the shops, the stocks are getting close to less than a few days, maybe four or five days of food stocks left,” WFP’s Middle East spokeswoman Abeer Etefa, told reporters in Geneva via video link from Cairo.
She said that out of five flour mills in the Gaza Strip, only one was operating due to security concerns and the unavailability of fuel.
“So the bread supply is running low and people are lining up for hours to get bread,” she said.
Only five bakeries out of 23 in Gaza contracted by WFP were still in operation, she added. “Our food supplies within Gaza are running really short,” said Etefa.
The spokeswoman said there has been no looting of WFP warehouses, and “anyway, whatever we have left in the warehouses is so little”.
Aid at Rafah
Aid agencies have been flying supplies into El Arish airport in Egypt — around 20 kilometres away from the Rafah border crossing and the only one into the Gaza Strip not controlled by Israel.
So far Egypt has kept the crossing closed to aid going in or foreign nationals trying to flee, as Israel has repeatedly struck the Palestinian side of the crossing.
Ahmed Salem of the Sinai Foundation said that the trucks heading for the border contained Egyptian aid and that the international aid remained in warehouses.
Salem and another security source said Egypt had repaired the roads within the crossing that had been damaged by Israeli strikes.
Etefa said the WFP had mobilised over 300 metric tonnes of food that was either at or on its way to the Rafah border crossing from Egypt into the Gaza Strip — enough food to feed around 250,000 people for one week.
“Everyone is still very hopeful that we will be able to get inside and this is why more supplies are on the way,” she said.
“We call for unimpeded access, safe passage for desperately-needed humanitarian supplies into Gaza.”
The UN’s humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths is due to arrive in Cairo on Tuesday on a visit to the region, expected to last several days, to negotiate aid access to the Gaza Strip.
He is set to go to Israel, and, if conditions permit, to the Palestinian territories, a spokesman said.
Meanwhile, Dr Richard Brennan, regional emergency director of the World Health Organisation Eastern Mediterranean regional office, said the agency was meeting with “decision-makers” today to open access to Gaza as soon as possible.
“We have aid south of Rafa and waiting for the go ahead to get entry to Gaza,” he said, referring to the Rafa crossing, which was a vital artery before the fighting and is now a key route for desperately needed supplies into Gaza.
Biden to visit Israel
US President Joe Biden will make a high-stakes visit to Israel in a significant show of US support for its top Middle East ally after Hamas fighters killed 1,300 Israelis during a surprise blitz through southern Israeli towns on October 7, the deadliest single day in Israel’s 75-year history.
Israel has responded by tightening its blockade on Gaza, including by restricting the entry of food, water and fuel and bombarding the area with air strikes that have killed thousands of Palestinians and displaced hundreds of thousands more.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken concluded hours of talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv early on Tuesday by saying that Biden would visit Israel.
“The president will hear from Israel what it needs to defend its people as we continue to work with Congress to meet those needs,” Blinken told reporters.
Biden would meet with Netanyahu, reaffirm Washington’s commitment to Israel’s security, and receive a comprehensive brief on its war aims and strategy, Blinken said.
“(The) president will hear from Israel how it will conduct its operations in a way that minimises civilian casualties and enables humanitarian assistance to flow to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not benefit Hamas,” Blinken added.
Blinken also said he and Netanyahu had agreed to develop a plan to get humanitarian aid to Gaza civilians. He did not provide details.
After visiting Israel, Biden would travel to Jordan to meet King Abdullah, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, US national security spokesperson John Kirby said.
Israeli officials say that in addition to the casualties Hamas inflicted, the group took some 199 hostages into Gaza.
Khaled Meshaal, a top Hamas leader, said on Monday the group “has what it needs” to free all Palestinians in Israel’s jails, indicating it may try to use the kidnapped Israelis as bargaining chips.
Soon after Meshaal’s remarks, the group’s armed wing separately said the non-Israelis it had taken captive were “guests” who would be released “when circumstances allow”.
Hamas released a video on Monday in which a French-Israeli woman captive was shown having her injured arm treated by an unidentified medical worker. She identified herself as 21-year-old Mia Schem and asked to be returned to her family as quickly as possible.
The Israeli military claimed it had struck Hamas targets overnight, including Hamas’ headquarters and a bank used by the group. It also claimed that a Hamas operative was killed in the strikes.
Chinese envoy heads to Middle East in bid to contain war
China will this week weigh into the Israel-Hamas war by sending its special envoy to the Middle East, after the United States asked it to use its influence to stop the conflict from spreading.
Washington says it hopes China’s friendship with Hamas backer Iran could help calm the conflict, particularly after Beijing brokered a detente between long-time foes Tehran and Riyadh earlier this year.
Iran has warned of a possible “pre-emptive action” against Israel as it prepares a ground offensive on the Gaza Strip. There are also fears that Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which is also backed by Iran, could open up a second front with Israel.
“Our message was that he thinks it’s in our shared interest to stop the conflict from spreading,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters on Saturday, after Antony Blinken spoke with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi by phone.
“He thought it could be useful if China could use its influence.”
China then announced envoy Zhai Jun will visit the Middle East this week, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning saying his objective was “to pool international consensus, urge relevant parties to stop hostilities, cool down the situation and create necessary conditions for political settlement”.
No details have yet been announced on Zhai’s itinerary or the exact timing of his trip.
Iran warns of ‘long-term war’
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told state TV that Israel would not be allowed to act in Gaza without consequences, warning of “preemptive action” by the “resistance front” in the coming hours.
Iran refers to regional countries and forces opposed to Israel and the United States as a resistance front.
“All options are open and we cannot be indifferent to the war crimes committed against the people of Gaza,” Amirabdollahian said. “The resistance front is capable of waging a long-term war with the enemy.”
Japan, the current president of the Group of 7 developed nations, said it was in the final stages of arranging a call with Iran, Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said, as she announced $10 million in humanitarian aid for Gaza.
Last week, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tehran was not involved in the Hamas attack on Israel, but hailed what he called Israel’s “irreparable” military and intelligence defeat.
In the biggest sign yet that the war could spread to a new front, Israel ordered the evacuation on Monday of 28 villages in a 2-km-deep (1.2-mile) zone near the Lebanese border.
Netanyahu said Israelis should prepare for a long battle.
“And I have a message for Iran and Hezbollah, don’t test us in the north. Don’t make the same mistake you once made. Because today the price you will pay will be much heavier,” he told the Israeli parliament on Monday.
Russia push for UN Security Council action on Israel, Gaza fails
A Russian-drafted UN Security Council resolution that would have called for a humanitarian ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza failed to get the minimum nine votes needed in the 15-member body on Monday.
The draft resolution received five votes in favour, four votes against and there were six abstentions.
Russia proposed the one-page draft text on Friday, which also called for the release of hostages, humanitarian aid access and the safe evacuation of civilians in need.
The text condemned violence against civilians and all acts of terrorism, but did not name Hamas.
Former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif said the failure to adopt the resolution was “not just disappointing but deeply troubling”.
US general visits Israel
Diplomatic efforts have concentrated on getting aid into Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt, the sole route that is not controlled by Israel. Cairo said the Rafah crossing was not officially closed but was inoperable due to Israeli strikes on the Gaza side.
On the military front, the US has deployed two aircraft carriers and their supporting ships to the eastern Mediterranean since the attacks on Israel. The ships were meant as a deterrent to ensure the conflict did not spread, US officials said.
The top US general overseeing American forces in the Middle East, Central Command chief Army General Michael “Erik” Kurilla, made an unannounced trip to Israel on Tuesday, saying he hoped to ensure its military has what it needs.
As Israel masses troops on Gaza’s border, it has told more than a million people in the northern half of the enclave to flee to the southern half for their safety, even though Hamas has told them to stay put.
While tens of thousands have fled south, the United Nations says there is no way to move so many people without causing a humanitarian catastrophe.
The United Nations says a million Gazans have already been driven from their homes. Power is out, sanitary water is scarce and fuel for hospital emergency generators is running low.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told Netanyahu on Monday that Moscow wanted to help prevent a humanitarian disaster. A Russian-drafted UN Security Council resolution that would have called for a humanitarian ceasefire failed to get the minimum nine votes needed in the 15-member body on Monday.
FM Jilani to attend OIC meeting on Oct 18
Meanwhile, the Foreign Office (FO) said that caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani will attend the urgent open-ended ministerial meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia tomorrow (October 18).
In a statement today, the FO said the meeting was convened by the OIC to discuss the Gaza crisis and the humanitarian situation of the besieged civilians.
“In his statement at the ministerial meeting, FM Jilani will present Pakistan’s serious concerns about the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and emphasise the urgent need for a ceasefire, lifting of the siege, and provision of relief assistance to the people of Gaza,” the statement added.
It also said that the interim FM will also hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from other OIC member states.
Source: dawn.com
