WFP temporarily suspends aid delivery to northern Gaza

Amman: The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) announced on Tuesday that it has temporarily suspended the delivery of food aid to the northern Gaza Strip, despite the deteriorating conditions there due to the insecurity of the area. "The plan was to send 10 trucks of food supplies per day for 7 consecutive days starting Sunday, but the aid trucks faced looting and gunfire," the WFP said in a statement. "A convoy of trucks was heading towards Gaza City on Sunday, surrounded by crowds of hungry people who tried to board the trucks near the Wadi Gaza checkpoint. When the convoy entered Gaza City, it was fired upon," the statement added. The second convoy, on Monday, was surrounded by chaos and widespread violence, as a number of trucks were looted between Khan Yunis and Deir al-Balah, and a truck driver was beaten. The statement said that "the remaining flour was distributed spontaneously on trucks in Gaza City amid high tension and explosive anger." The WFP said that deliveries to the north resumed on Sunday after a three-week suspension following an airstrike on an UNRWA truck, and due to the lack of an effective humanitarian notification system. The WFP acknowledged that suspending deliveries "means that the situation there will deteriorate further, and more people will face the risk of starvation." "The WFP will seek ways to resume deliveries responsibly as soon as possible," it added. The statement said there is an urgent need to scale up the flow of aid to northern Gaza to avoid a catastrophe. Source: Jordan News Agency