Currently on assignment in Gaza, Antoine Renard, representative and country director for the World Food Program (WFP) in Palestine, observed that the flow of aid into Gaza remains haphazard, despite UN requests.
The entire population depends on food aid. The WFP provides aid to 1.1 million people, in various forms: Hot meals for around 600,000 people, bread, food parcels, etc. The UNRWA [UN agency for Palestinian refugees] addresses the needs of another 1.1 million people. Our challenge still lies in gaining access to Gaza, and ensuring that there is enough food, whether it's on the market, thanks to commercial trucks, or in the form of emergency food support. The war is dragging on, we can't see an end to it, and meeting the population's basic needs remains uncertain.
For most Gazans, their days consist of queuing for water, bread, or a hot meal in a communal kitchen. Most of the enclave's inhabitants no longer have an income. Yet among the families we visit, we see a great deal of sharing.
For the past year, Gazans have been relying on pre-prepared food and canned goods. The food diversity that existed before the war has disappeared, and bread is the only fresh product that is really accessible. Fruit and vegetables are extremely limited in the region south of the Wadi Gaza river valley [where there are 1.9 million people]. They have all but disappeared in the north [where between 300,000 and 400,000 people are clustered]. We are requesting that business activity be restarted, so that, with the support in the form of vouchers or cash, the population can have access to these foods.
We have begun a new study. The last one [published in June] indicated that 96% of the population was at crisis levels of hunger, in need of assistance, with a high risk of famine. Trade flows and food assistance in July and August brought a slight improvement. However, they dropped again in September: As soon as we have access difficulties, these parameters risk falling back into the red very quickly.
We use various corridors – from Egypt, Jordan or the Israeli port of Ashdod. Flows vary, with major disparities. We were able to bring in around 13,500 tonnes of aid in August, compared with over 10,000 tonnes in September. Another difficulty is that aid that reaches the south of the Gaza Strip cannot be transported to the north, and vice-versa [Gaza is split in two by an Israeli army corridor]. Until July, we had been able to support the population south of Wadi Gaza, with difficulties in the north. In August, we were able to provide some aid to people in the north of the territory, but much less in the south. It's like a tap that is turned on and off.
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