Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine: We warn of the escalating hunger crisis in the Gaza Strip, as the World Food Programme reduces its humanitarian assistance provided to about 500,000 citizens

Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine:

▪ We warn of the escalating hunger crisis in the Gaza Strip, as the World Food Programme reduces its humanitarian assistance provided to about 500,000 citizens, and pushes international and UN institutions to leave the Strip and deprives them of providing their services, foremost among them the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees «UNRWA», in addition to the continued Israeli occupation authorities' ban on the entry of vegetables, fruits, food items and wheat flour into the Strip for more than a week, which threatens the food security of more than two million Palestinians who are suffering extremely harsh humanitarian and living conditions.

▪ The continued banning of the entry of basic food items in conjunction with the reduction of humanitarian aid warns of the worsening of hunger and the expansion of the circle of food deprivation, especially among children, patients, the elderly and displaced families that lack the basic necessities of life.

▪ These Israeli measures constitute a blatant violation of the humanitarian protocol annexed to the ceasefire agreement, which stipulates the entry of 600 trucks daily, and undermine the commitments related to securing the basic needs of the population, at a time when Palestinians in the Gaza Strip need a regular and sufficient flow of aid and food items, not additional restrictions that increase their suffering.

▪ We hold the international community, the Peace Council and the UN Security Council fully responsible for the famine crisis that is ravaging the bodies of children, infants and the elderly, and we call on them to take urgent action to pressure the occupation authorities to immediately allow the entry of vegetables, fruits, flour, food items and basic necessities, and to ensure the resumption and expansion of humanitarian aid in a manner commensurate with the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe in the Strip.

▪ Addressing the hunger crisis in Gaza requires practical and immediate steps that go beyond statements of concern and condemnation, and ensure the delivery of food to citizens without obstacles, and protect their right to life and human dignity.