UNRWA Announces Declining Supply Of Flour In Gaza Strip

Illustration of humanitarian aid trucks from Egypt entering Gaza via Rafah. (Twitter/@PalestinineRCS)

JAKARTA - The United Nations Aid and Work Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) on Sunday announced that flour supplies in the Gaza Strip were running low.

"The trafficking is getting worse in Gaza. People, including many children, hope to get food to survive, during the distribution of warm food by charity organizations. Yesterday the WFP announced that it had completely consumed food supplies in Gaza," the agency wrote in an upload on X. , as reported by WAFA April 28.

UNRWA further explained that currently "nearly 3,000 UNRWA rescue aid trucks are ready to enter Gaza," but Israel continues to block the entry of this aid shipment.

Gaza, home to about 2.4 million people, relies heavily on humanitarian aid, which has been completely stalled since March 2. Since then Israel has closed the crossings of Karam Abu Salem, Zikim, and Beit Hanoun, cutting off essential supplies to the region.

The organization stressed the urgent need to lift the Israeli siege of Gaza, which has been going on for years and continues to have a devastating impact on the population.

Israel is known to have reimposed a total blockade on all supplies to Gaza since early March, re-launching military operations on March 18 in line with the end of the ceasefire in effect since January 19, quoted by Reuters.

Since then, Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,600 Palestinians according to Gaza's health authorities, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee homes as Israel seized what it called Gaza's soil buffer zone.

Israel says its blockade is aimed at suppressing the Hamas militants that control Gaza to release 59 hostages who have been detained since the October 7, 2023 attacks.

Hamas himself said he was ready to release them, but only as part of the deal that ended the war.

Earlier, UNRWA Head Philippe Lazzarini described the blockade as a collective punishment for Gazans.

"Humanist aid is used as a bargaining chip and war weapon. Extortion must be stopped, supply must be distributed, the hostages must be released, the ceasefire must continue," Lazzarini said in a post on X last week.