{"id":171065,"date":"2025-11-08T06:22:33","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T06:22:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/hunger-crisis-in-gaza-is-catastrophic-despite-ceasefire-who-chief-says-al-jazeera\/"},"modified":"2025-11-08T06:22:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T06:22:33","slug":"hunger-crisis-in-gaza-is-catastrophic-despite-ceasefire-who-chief-says-al-jazeera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/hunger-crisis-in-gaza-is-catastrophic-despite-ceasefire-who-chief-says-al-jazeera\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunger crisis in Gaza is \u2018catastrophic\u2019 despite ceasefire, WHO chief says – Al Jazeera"},"content":{"rendered":"

Forty-one aid organizations accuse Israel of \u2018arbitrarily\u2019 rejecting aid shipments into famine-struck Gaza.<\/em>
By <\/span>Abby Rogers<\/a>, AFP and Reuters
Share
Save
The hunger crisis in Gaza remains \u201ccatastrophic\u201d two weeks after the ceasefire took effect, the UN\u2019s health agency has warned, as international aid groups demanded Israel stop blocking humanitarian deliveries.
Supplies entering the besieged enclave are not meeting the nutritional needs of the people living there, aid groups announced Thursday, while the UN\u2019s World Food Programme said that supplies into Gaza were still far short of its daily target of 2,000 tonnes because only two crossings into the Palestinian territory are open.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation still remains catastrophic because what\u2019s entering is not enough,\u201d Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, chief of the World Health Organization said, adding that \u201cthere is no dent in hunger because there is not enough food.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0
At least a quarter of Gaza\u2019s population, including 11,500 pregnant women, is starving, the UN warned on Wednesday, saying the effects of malnutrition will have \u201cgenerational\u201d impacts in Gaza.
Seventy percent of newborns are premature or underweight, compared with 20 percent before October 2023, Andrew Saberton, deputy executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said Wednesday.
\u201cMalnutrition will have generational effects, not on the mother, but on the newborn, likely to result in ever longer lasting care and problems throughout the life of the baby,\u201d he added.
A famine was declared in Gaza City and its surrounding area in August, with the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) saying at the time that more than 500,000 people in the Gaza Strip faced \u201ccatastrophic conditions\u201d<\/a>.
A US-brokered ceasefire took effect<\/a> on October 10. As part of the ceasefire agreement, humanitarian aid deliveries were to be ramped up, with the UN aiming for approximately 2,000 tonnes of aid entering on a daily basis. But only approximately 750 metric tonnes<\/a> of food are entering the Gaza Strip daily, the WFP announced Tuesday, because\u00a0only two of the Israeli-controlled crossings<\/a> into Gaza are operational \u2013 Karem Abu Salem in the south and al-Karara in the centre (called Kerem Shalom and Kissufim in Israel, respectively).
\u201cThe situation in the Gaza Strip remains catastrophic, even two weeks after the ceasefire began,\u201d Bahaa Zaqout, director of external relations at the Palestinian NGO PARC, said.
Zaqout cited examples of biscuits, chocolate and soda being allowed in on commercial trucks, while items, such as seeds and olives remained restricted from entering.
\u201cUnfortunately, these do not respond to the minimum nutritional values required for children, women and the most vulnerable groups,\u201d he added, saying that while some fruits and vegetables are entering Gaza, they are exorbitantly expensive.
One kilogram (2.2 pounds) of tomatoes, which used to cost one shekel, now costs about 15 shekels ($4.50), he said.
Forty-one aid organisations, including Oxfam and the Norwegian Refugee Council, released an open letter Thursday accusing Israel of \u201carbitrarily\u201d rejecting aid shipments into Gaza, saying the Israeli government has routinely blocked their requests to begin humanitarian efforts in earnest.
\u201cBetween 10 and 21 October, 99 requests<\/a> by international NGOs to deliver aid into Gaza were rejected, while six requests submitted by the UN agencies were denied,\u201d the letter stated. \u201cAid denied by Israeli authorities includes tents and tarpaulins, blankets, mattresses, food and nutrition supplies, hygiene kits, sanitation materials, assistive devices, and children\u2019s clothing, all of which should be unrestricted during the ceasefire.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Wednesday<\/a>, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled Israel has an obligation to ensure the \u201cbasic needs\u201d of the population in Gaza are met. In April, lawyers for the United Nations and Palestinian representatives at the ICJ accused Israel of breaking international law by refusing to let aid into Gaza between March and May.
While some aid has been allowed into Gaza since then, humanitarian groups say much more is needed and demand that Israel provide more access.
\u201cSupplies are packaged, staff are equipped and ready to respond at scale,\u201d aid organisations stated in their open letter on Thursday. \u201cWhat we need now is access. Israeli authorities must uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law and the terms of the ceasefire agreement.\u201d
Israel\u2019s war on Gaza<\/a> has killed at least 68,280 people and wounded 170,375 since October 2023, according to Palestinian health authorities. At least 1,139 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel and more than 200 others were taken captive.<\/p>\n

Follow Al Jazeera English:<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Forty-one aid organizations accuse Israel of \u2018arbitrarily\u2019 rejecting aid shipments into famine-struck Gaza.By Abby Rogers, AFP and ReutersShareSaveThe hunger crisis in Gaza remains \u201ccatastrophic\u201d two weeks after the ceasefire took effect, the UN\u2019s health agency has warned, as international aid groups demanded Israel stop blocking humanitarian deliveries.Supplies entering the besieged enclave are not meeting the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":171066,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-171065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}