NO WATER NO FUEL IN GAZA STRIP
DAILYLIFE has become “apocalyptic” in parts of southern Gaza since Israel moved into the city of Rafah, though the situation in the north is $(+-*1$)"Ǡ /# ǭ. !** " ) 4 . $ *) -$ 4ǟ Ǯ # 3* 0. /# / 2 ǭ1 . ) $) /# past 20 days or so out of Rafah has been
) #*--$ơ 3+ -$ ) !*- ( )4Ǡ ( )4 people,” Matthew Hollingworth, the World Food Programme (WFP) director for the Palestinian territories.
# 4# 1 ƣ /# ơ"#/$)"/* -Ƕ eas where there was not enough water, healthcare or fuel, where food was limited, telecommunications had stopped and there was not enough space to dig pit latrines, *''$)"2*-/#/*' )*)'$) -$ ơ)"ǟ The public health situation was “beyond crisis levels”, he said, adding: “The sounds
) .( ''. *! 1 -4 4 '$! - #*--$ơ ) apocalyptic.”
People “sleep to the sounds of war... and they wake to the same sounds”, he said.
The WFP was able to provide “ever decreasing amounts of assistance”, with all of its bakeries in Rafah closed due to a lack of fuel and supplies, he said.
From May 7 — when Israeli tanks and /-**+. )/ - ! #ǭ. ./ Ǹ /* 4 ƮƬǠ “not a single WFP truck crossed from the southern corridors from Egypt”, Hollingworth said.
The WFP also lost access to its main warehouse in the south of the Gaza Strip because it was in an evacuation zone, with 2,700 tonnes of food either looted or ./-*4 $)ơ"#/$)"ǟ Hollingworth said the WFP was serving around 27,000 people with hot meals in
! # Ǹ Ǯ 0/ /# /ǭ. )*/ )*0"#ǯǟ
In central areas of the Gaza Strip, where ( )4 + *+' ƣ Ǡ /# $. +-*1$ $)" around 400,000 hot meals a day, and has kept six bakeries functioning.
Commercial food is also getting in, he said, but many people have no money, with some even resorting to trading their identity cards — which they need if they want to register for aid.
Hollingworth said aid trucks from Egypt had begun entering the Gaza Strip through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing.
“Since May 20, we have started to get a trickle of assistance in,” he said, though he warned the security situation was still slowing down the deliveries.
Ǯ # / # . /* /0-) $)/* ƣ** *! ..$.Ƕ / ) $! 2 ǭ- "*$)" /* ).0- 2 *)ǭ/ start seeing the most acute forms of hunger becoming more common,” he said.
In the north of the Palestinian territory, by contrast, where UN agencies warned of imminent famine in March, Hollingworth said the situation was improving.