The United Nations has appealed for $2.8 billion in funding to assist more than three million people in Gaza and the West Bank until the end of the year, to help ease food shortages and prevent looming famine in Gaza.
A flash appeal published by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) yesterday said that sum was needed to help 3.1m people and ‘reduce human suffering and prevent further loss of life’.
A major chunk of funding – $782.1m – will be destined for food aid for 2.2m people in Gaza and 400,000 people in the West Bank, the appeal said.
More than six months of war have created critical food shortages among Gaza’s Palestinians that in some areas now exceed famine levels, according to the UN. A senior UN aid official said yesterday that the UN was struggling to prevent famine in the Gaza Strip and while there had been some improvement in co-ordination with Israel, aid deliveries in the enclave still faced obstacles.
Israel aims to wipe out Hamas in Gaza after a deadly October 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian group, in which it killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 people hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Gaza health authorities say Israel has killed more than 33,000 people since, in its assault on the enclave.
The Israeli military said food trucks entered the blockaded Gaza Strip from Ashdod Port for the first time since the government approved the opening of the port to aid shipments.
“Eight World Food Programme trucks of flour entered the Gaza Strip from the Ashdod Port today,” the statement said yesterday, adding that the trucks underwent security checks.