PM Shtayyeh discusses Gaza aid delivery with WFP Deputy Director

RAMALLAH: Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh met today with the World Food Program (WFP)'s Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, Carl Skau, during which he was briefed on the program's efforts to deliver food and relief aid to the Gaza Strip. During a meeting in Ramallah, Shtayyeh warned of the accelerating humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip as a result of the limited food and relief supplies brought in through the Rafah crossing. He called for exerting more pressure on Israel to open all crossings for relief aid delivery and to allow aid to be delivered directly from the West Bank to Gaza. Shtayyeh said Israel is required to allow the transfer of aid from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip, which could facilitate bringing aid to northern Gaza in light of the deteriorating situation resulting from the separation of the north from the south and the occupation army's prevention on the arrival of aid shipments. He pointed out that there are coordination efforts with international partners to ensure the entry of medicines and medical supplies into the Gaza Strip as soon as Israel allows it, stressing that the priority is to deliver relief and medical aid and to restore electricity, water and communications to the Strip. Shtayyeh called on the staff of the World Food Program to document the conditions in the Gaza Strip and to release more press releases about their work and the conditions there in light of the media blackout imposed by Israel through banning the entry of foreign journalists into Gaza. Source: Palestine news and Information Agency – WAFA