On Friday, WFP announced
it had delivered its last remaining supplies to kitchens
preparing hot meals which are expected to be completely gone
within days.
The UN agency warned that it may be
forced to end critical assistance to families unless urgent
action is taken.
Back to ‘breaking
point’
“The situation inside the Gaza
Strip has once again reached a breaking point: people are
running out of ways to cope, and the fragile gains made
during the short ceasefire have unravelled,” it
said.
The kitchens have been the only consistent
source of food assistance in Gaza for weeks, representing a
critical lifeline even though they reached just half
the population with only a quarter of their daily food
needs.
WFP also supported 25 bakeries which
all fully closed on 31 March as wheat flour
and cooking fuel ran out. Furthermore, food parcels
distributed to families – containing two weeks of rations
– were exhausted that same week.
No aid for nearly
two months
No humanitarian or commercial supplies
have entered Gaza for more than seven weeks as all main
border points remain closed.
UN agencies and senior
officials, including Secretary-General
António Guterres, have repeatedly appealed for
humanitarian access.
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WFP said the closure is the
longest that Gaza has faced, and it is exacerbating already
fragile markets and food systems.
Open aid
corridors
Food prices have skyrocketed 1,400 per cent
compared to the ceasefire period earlier in the year, while
essential food commodities are in short supply.
This
is raising serious concern about malnutrition – especially
for young children, pregnant and breastfeeding women, older
people, and other vulnerable persons.
Meanwhile, more
than 116,000 metric tonnes of food assistance – enough to
feed a million people for up to four months – are ready
and waiting to be brought into Gaza by WFP and partners as
soon as borders reopen.
“WFP urges all parties to
prioritize the needs of civilians and allow aid to enter
Gaza immediately and uphold their obligations under
international humanitarian law,” the agency
said.
Recent increase in Israeli attacks
The
UN human rights office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
highlighted the deteriorating situation in both Gaza and the
West Bank in a
statement published on Friday.
It said that over
the last 18 months, the lives of 2.2 million Palestinians in
Gaza have been devasted by hostilities, severe restrictions
on humanitarian assistance, and the destruction of nearly
all essential infrastructure.
“Since the collapse of
the ceasefire, and during the past week in particular,
Israeli attacks on Palestinians have accelerated,
claiming the lives of countless civilians and further
risking the complete destruction of what little
infrastructure remains.”
Displacement
orders and “Israeli’s renewed complete blockade of the
Gaza Strip” have further exacerbated the
situation.
Desperation stokes unrest
The
statement noted that “as the population becomes
increasingly desperate due to the scarcity of food and other
vital provisions, social unrest is deepening
further, with frequent reports of disputes breaking out
within the community involving the use of
firearms.”
This is unfolding “in an
environment where the law enforcement and justice
system has been systematically dismantled by Israeli
attacks and the targeting of civilian officials of
the local administration.”
The Israeli military also
continues to target civilian infrastructure in Gaza that is
critical to survival.
Between 21 and 22 April,
deliberate and coordinated attacks across three governorates
resulted in the destruction of 36 heavy machines used in
humanitarian relief operations, such as excavators, water
trucks, and sewer suction tanks.
Their destruction
“is likely to significantly hinder rescue operations,
including retrieval of the injured and killed from under the
rubble, clearance of debris to allow the movement of
ambulances, as well as delivery of safe drinking water,
solid waste collection, and the operation of sewage systems
– further risking outbreaks of disease.”
Homes
under fire
Strikes against shelters also continue.
Between 18 March and 22 April. OHCHR’s
Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory recorded 229
attacks on residential buildings, and 91 attacks on tents
for displaced people. Most resulted in fatalities, including
many children and women.
The Office said persistent
Israeli military attacks on civilians and civilian objects
have continued throughout Gaza in violation of the core
principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution,
as required by international humanitarian
law.
“Extremely high civilian casualties
over 18 months do not appear to have prompted any changes in
Israeli targeting practices and policies, a pattern
indicating at the very least a complete disregard for the
lives of civilians in Gaza,” it said.
“Matched
with Israel’s policy of deliberately blocking life-saving
assistance from entering the Gaza Strip, these policies
appear to be aimed at punishing the civilian population of
Gaza and inflicting on them conditions of life increasingly
incompatible with their continued existence as a group in
Gaza.”
Settler violence in the West
Bank
Meanwhile in the West Bank, “rampant settler
violence and operations conducted by Israeli security
forces” continue to kill or injure Palestinians or force
them from their homes or shelters in many areas.
In
one incident on 23 April, settlers reportedly attacked
Palestinians and their property in a village in Ramallah.
Eight young Palestinian men were injured, and three
agricultural structures were destroyed. Other “concerning
incidents” were recorded elsewhere in the West
Bank.
The statement noted that Israeli security forces
have killed 192 children in the West Bank since 7 October
2023 – the date Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups
launched deadly attacks on Israel.
Additionally, the
large-scale Israeli operation in the northern West Bank has
now entered a third month, with Israeli security forces
continuing to prevent Palestinians from returning to their
homes in the Jenin and Tulkarm refugee camps.
“With
every day this operation continues, the prospect that
Palestinians in affected camps will be able to return to
their homes is diminishing, risking the permanent
displacement of Palestinians from key West Bank population
centres, amounting to forcible transfer,”
the statement
warned.
