World Food Program
The UN’s World Food Program issued a dire warning, stating that unless fuel deliveries resume and food supplies swiftly increase, Gaza’s population faces an imminent descent into severe hunger.
Over 2.2 million Palestinians in the region now require food aid for survival, as winter approaches, exacerbating the dire conditions in unsafe, crowded shelters lacking clean water.
Abeer Etefa, the WFP’s senior regional communications officer for the Middle East and North Africa, highlighted the catastrophic breakdown of food supply chains, transforming an already grim situation into a disastrous one.
Previously challenging, living conditions in Gaza have now reached an alarming state.
Obtaining basic necessities like bread has become increasingly desperate, with dehydration and malnutrition cases surging daily.
People are fortunate to secure even one meal, often limited to canned food when available, Etefa noted.
Despite some aid trucks reaching Gaza, delivering essential food and water remains challenging due to war-damaged roads and severe fuel shortages resulting from the Israeli blockade.
Gaza’s food systems have collapsed: food production halted, markets crumbled, fishermen and farmers unable to work, and essential facilities like bakeries and mills closing due to fuel scarcity.
Before the conflict, there were 130 bakeries; airstrikes damaged eleven, and others shut down due to fuel shortages.
Consequently, bread, a staple for Gazans, has become scarce.
The WFP, which had been supplying fresh bread to 200,000 Palestinians in shelters, had to close its local program due to the circumstances.
I am an experienced writer, analyst, and author. My exposure in English journalism spans more than 28 years. In the past, I have been working with daily The Muslim (Lahore Bureau), daily Business Recorder (Lahore/Islamabad Bureaus), Daily Times, Islamabad, daily The Nation (Lahore and Karachi). With daily The Nation, I have served as Resident Editor, Karachi. Since 2009, I have been working as a Freelance Writer/Editor for American organizations.
