‘Only a lasting peace can avert looming humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza’: UN food agency

By Zeynep Cetin

ISTANBUL (AA) - The UN food agency said that only a lasting peace can avert the “looming humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza.

“The resumption of hostilities in Gaza will only intensify the catastrophic hunger crisis that already threatens to overwhelm the civilian population,” the World Food Program (WFP) said in a statement on Tuesday.

It said that the seven-day humanitarian pause allowed WFP to double the number of distribution points outside shelters and deliver food in places that had been “impossible to reach.”

The UN food agency reached approximately 250,000 people in just one week, the statement added.

It said that the renewed fighting makes the distribution of aid “almost impossible and endangers the lives of humanitarian workers.”

“Above all, it is a disaster for the civilian population of Gaza, more than 2 million people, whose only lifeline is food assistance,” WFP said.

“Humanitarians must have safe, unimpeded, and sustained access, so we are able to distribute life-saving assistance throughout the territory. All parties must uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law,” it added.

Calling for a humanitarian cease-fire, WFP urged “all leaders to work with the utmost urgency to find political solutions that can end the suffering of families on all sides of this harrowing conflict.”

Israel resumed its military offensive on the Palestinian territory on Friday after the end of a weeklong humanitarian pause with the Palestinian group Hamas.

At least 16,248 Palestinians have been killed and more than 43,616 others injured in relentless air and ground attacks on the enclave since Oct. 7 following a cross-border attack by Hamas.

The Israeli death toll in the Hamas attack stood at 1,200, according to official figures.