WFP halts food deliveries to north Gaza amid ‘complete chaos, violence’
Al Jazeera
World Food Programme pauses deliveries amid Israeli gunfire and a ‘collapse of civil order’ in northern Gaza.
The United Nations food agency has paused delivering aid to northern Gaza, citing Israeli gunfire as well as “complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order” in the area.
The latest suspension on Tuesday increases fears of starvation in northern Gaza, which has been almost completely cut off from aid since late October amid Israel’s devastating war on the enclave.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said the decision “has not been taken lightly” as it risks people dying of hunger. But it said that “the safety and security to deliver critical food aid – and for people receiving it must be ensured”.
The agency said it had first suspended deliveries to the north three weeks ago after a strike hit an aid truck. It tried resuming deliveries this week but said convoys on Sunday and Monday faced gunfire and crowds of hungry people stripping goods and beating a driver.
Footage from the scene of the operations, verified by Al Jazeera, shows Palestinians fleeing to take cover amid the sound of gun shots and clouds of fumes from smoke bombs.
