World Food Program halts food aid to northern Gaza until conditions are safe for delivery

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The UN World Food Program (WFP) announced on Tuesday that it would pause its food distribution in northern Gaza until the situation in the Palestinian enclave allows safe distribution. The agency said the decision was not taken lightly as they knew what stopping these life-saving deliveries would mean.

“The decision to halt deliveries to the north of the Gaza Strip has not been taken lightly, as we know it means the situation there will worsen and more people will die of hunger,” the Rome-based food agency said in a statement. There will be a danger of. , according to Reuters. The United Nations has been warning of famine in the north since December.

Mob, looting and shooting

According to a BBC report, the decision has been taken after aid workers faced “complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order”, with the crew reportedly facing mobs, firing and looting.

On Sunday, WFP resumed food distribution in the north after a three-week suspension following an attack on a United Nations Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA) truck and the “absence of a functioning humanitarian notification system”. A convoy of trucks began heading towards Gaza City, but as soon as they entered the city they were attacked by a hungry mob. The next day, WFP trucks were looted between Khan Yunis in the south and Deir al-Balah in central Gaza and a driver was beaten.

The food crisis is especially severe in the north.

Israel, which launched its offensive following a Hamas attack on October 7, had ordered 1.1 million Palestinian civilians to evacuate all areas north of Wadi Gaza and seek refuge in the south. While most residents followed the order, many either chose to stay or were unable to flee, as Israeli troops surrounded the area.

In January, UNRWA said that at least 300,000 people left in northern Gaza were dependent on its aid for their survival. Aid delivery to the north is rare and dependent on security clearance from the Israeli military.

Three UN agencies – the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization and children’s agency UNICEF – warned on Monday that food and safe water are “extremely scarce” and diseases are widespread in Gaza. This situation has led to a significant increase in acute malnutrition in Gaza more than four months after the Israel–Hamas conflict.