March 6, 2024 (EIRNS)—The World Food Program reported yesterday that a convoy of 14 trucks carrying food to northern Gaza was stopped for three hours by the IDF then turned back. After being turned away the trucks were rerouted and later stopped by a large crowd of desperate people who looted the food, taking around 200 tons, from the trucks, the WFP statement reported. Road routes, it says, are the only option to transport the large quantities of food needed to avert famine in northern Gaza.
Jordanian cargo planes dropped 6 tons of WFP food into Gaza yesterday but this is not sufficent (the air drop of 36,000 meals by US planes the same day is not mentioned in the WFP statement). “Airdrops are a last resort and will not avert famine. We need entry points to northern Gaza that will allow us to deliver enough food for half a million people in desperate need,” Skau said.
“Hunger has reached catastrophic levels in the north of Gaza where children are dying of hunger-related diseases and suffering severe levels of malnutrition,” the statement continued. “A massive relief operation requires more entry points into Gaza, including from the north, and the use of Ashdod port. A ceasefire in Gaza is urgently needed to enable an operation of this size. With greater safety for humanitarian staff to move food and other supplies regularly throughout the Strip and with routes in from the North, WFP and its partners can prevent famine.”
