Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 6) — The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) made an urgent appeal for expanded humanitarian access to Gaza, saying entry through the Rafah border crossing is not enough to address the “dangerously low levels” of food supplies.
“Right now, parents in Gaza do not know whether they can feed their children today and whether they will even survive to see tomorrow. The suffering just meters away is unfathomable standing on this side of the border,” WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain said in an appeal on Sunday, after her visit to the Rafah border crossing in Egypt.
\”Today, I’m making an urgent plea for the millions of people whose lives are being torn apart by this crisis,” she added.
The UN agency said that the accessible entry points into Gaza have been virtually closed except for the Rafah border crossing point. This however is not enough to supply the growing needs of people affected by the war, it added.
\”We need to continue to work together to get safe and sustained access to Gaza at a scale that aligns with the catastrophic conditions facing families there,\” McCain said.
WFP said McCain met with the Egypt President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and visited the Egyptian Red Crescent’s humanitarian staging hub in Al Arish. She also explored opportunities for WFP to further boost collaboration with partners to scale up the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
With the worsening Israel-Hamas conflict, McCain said that it is “ not just a local tragedy, it is a stark reminder that our global food crisis is worsening.\”
The WFP said it is aiming to help more than a million people with urgent food assistance in the next few weeks.
It is also distributing fresh bread and canned foods to shelters every day, and is transferring money to people residing in the community to buy food in available shops.
More than 650,000 people in Gaza and the West Bank have received food and cash assistance from WFP since October 7, the humanitarian organization added.
