WFP Head Says Increased Food Aid Is Not Enough To Stop Hunger In Gaza

Children queue for food in Gaza. (Twitter/@UNRWA)

JAKARTA - Food aids are increasingly reaching Gaza, but are still far from sufficient to prevent widespread hunger, the World Food Program (WFP) head said.

"We get a little more food. We are moving in the right direction, but that's not enough to do what we need to do to ensure that people are not malnourished and not starving," WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain told Reuters in a video link from Jerusalem. , as reported August 29.

McCain further said the WFP was now capable of delivering about 100 aid trucks per day to Gaza compared to 600 trucks per day during the two-month ceasefire ending in mid-March.

COGAT, Israel's military agency overseeing the flow of aid to the enclave, said in a joint statement with the Israeli military that every day more than 300 humanitarian aid trucks enter Gaza, mostly carrying food.

McCain met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, their office statement said.

An Israeli statement said they agreed to double efforts to accelerate and maintain the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza given urgent needs on the ground.

A report released on Friday by global hunger monitoring, Integrated Food Safety Phase Classification, said that some 514,000 people - nearly a quarter of Gaza's population - are facing starvation in Gaza City and its surroundings.

Israel has repeatedly dismissed the findings as false and biased, and sided with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which it has fought for for nearly two years.

Separately, Sami al-Ashram, 52, who was queuing in a soup kitchen in Gaza City, told Reuters he barely had enough food.

"I ask the party responsible for the assistance to increase (supply) assistance so that we can eat and live. Just a little rice is not enough for us," he said.

McCain, who visited Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis this week - including a clinic that supports children as well as pregnant and lactating mothers - highlights the ongoing difficulties of channeling aid to vulnerable populations in the interior of Gaza.

"What we witnessed was total destruction. Gaza was basically flattened to the ground, and we saw people who were very starving and malnourished," McCain said.

"This proves my opinion, we need to go deep into it (Gaza) so that we can ensure that they can consistently get what they need," he said.

He said a slight increase in food distribution and commercial supplies to Gaza had helped lower prices, but most people were still unable to afford food.

McCain hopes the WFP will have better access to Gaza after meeting with Israeli Military Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir on Wednesday, where he urged unrestricted access, safer routes, and assurances that the truck would not be delayed long after the permit was granted.

A military statement said Lieutenant General Zamir stressed Israel's commitment to preventing hunger and enabling humanitarian aid to reach Gazans.

The IPC report also warns that hunger could spread to the central and southern districts of Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of September.

McCain called the IPC report a "gold standard" to measure food insecurity.

Israel itself rejected the report as "very flawed" and asked the IPC to withdraw it on Wednesday. The IPC has yet to comment.