The World Food Program (WFP) has warned of a severe famine in the Gaza Strip due to the war between Israel and the radical Islamic Hamas. “If nothing changes, famine is imminent in northern Gaza,” Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the WFP, told the UN Security Council on Tuesday. The WFP must “continue to live up to its responsibilities” in order to prevent this.
For the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), representative Ramesh Rajasingham, speaking on behalf of its head Martin Griffiths, warned that a “general famine” was “almost inevitable” if the situation did not change.
According to the UN Agriculture Organization FAO, around 46 percent of the agricultural land in the Gaza Strip was destroyed in mid-February, and around 70 percent of the cows and around 50 percent of the sheep and goats were killed. As a result of the war, around 97 percent of groundwater can no longer be used for human use.
The Okha also complained on Monday that, according to the UN organization, Israeli forces were making the delivery of aid more difficult by blocking access to the Gaza Strip.
The war in the Gaza Strip was triggered by the major attack on Israel on October 7th by Hamas, which the EU and the USA classify as a terrorist organization. Islamist fighters committed atrocities primarily against civilians; according to Israeli figures, around 1,160 people were killed and around 250 hostages were kidnapped into the Gaza Strip.
In response to the Hamas attack, Israel has since taken massive military action in the Gaza Strip, with the declared goal of destroying Hamas. According to Hamas’ latest figures, which cannot be independently verified, more than 29,800 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since then.