Abeer Etefa, Senior Regional Communications Officer for the World Food Programme (WFP) told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that since the ceasefire took hold on 11 October the agency has been able to bring in over 6,700 metric tonnes of food – enough for close to half a million people for two weeks.
“Daily deliveries continue and they are now averaging around 750 tonnes,” Ms. Etefa said. “That’s much better than what we had before the ceasefire, but it’s still well below our target, which is around 2,000 tonnes every day.” The WFP spokesperson explained that unless all border crossing points can be used, reaching this target is “almost impossible”
Currently, only the crossings at Kerem Shalom and Kissufim in the south are open, and the “severe amount of destruction” impedes access from the south to the north – where famine was declared in August.
They are not very confident how long the ceasefire will last and what will happen next “We need Erez, we need Zikkim, we need these border crossing points to open,” Ms. Etefa insisted. Reaching northern Gaza with large-scale convoys is a priority, she said.
“We’ve cleared the roads at scale into the north,” she added, removing the debris from the border crossing points to be able to connect to Gaza City where the situation is particularly dire. “But we need these crossings to open so that we’re able to get large-scale convoys.”
The agency has started restoring its food distribution system, with a goal of scaling assistance through 145 distribution points across the Strip. Some 26 distribution points have already been reinstated.
Source: The UN
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