WFP Faces Unprecedented Challenges Amid Gaza Humanitarian Crisis

The UN World Food Programme reports severe difficulties in Gaza due to increased Israeli attacks, winter's approach, and logistical hurdles. Director Corinne Fleischer emphasized the dire conditions and obstacles faced by humanitarian workers in the region.

The United Nations World Food Programme has reported escalating challenges in conducting humanitarian operations in the Gaza Strip, exacerbated by the impending winter season. Corinne Fleischer, the WFP's Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe, highlighted the increasing difficulty of preventing famine, with over half a million people already living in dire conditions.

Fleischer noted the multiple obstacles that humanitarian workers face, including destroyed infrastructure making movement more arduous in winter, and prolonged delays due to Israeli permits. The severe overcrowding in shelters, with about two million people compressed into 11% of the area, further complicates their mission.

The security situation has dramatically worsened over the past month, with more Israeli evacuation orders and heightened dangers for humanitarian workers. The WFP has lost its last operational warehouse in the central Gaza Strip, along with five community kitchens and 20 food distribution sites, severely impacting their ability to deliver aid.

(With inputs from agencies.)