The UN organization warned that amidst imminent famine, this lifeline commodity is ‘slipping out of reach’ of many Palestinians in Gaza.
The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) announced on Friday the closure of all bakeries in central Gaza due to an acute fuel shortage amid an Israeli genocidal war and a strict siege on the enclave.
In a post on X, the UN organization reported that bakeries in central Gaza were forced to shut down due to “severe supply shortages.”
“Bread is a lifeline for many families—often the only food they can access,” WFP said on X. The organization warned that this vital commodity for many Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip is “slipping out of reach.”
WFP reiterated its call for unrestricted humanitarian aid to enter Gaza in light of the looming famine. “WFP continues its call for safe and secure access of vital humanitarian aid into Gaza,” the post read.
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Looming Famine
WFP, along with several other UN agencies and international aid organizations, has repeatedly warned of an imminent famine in Gaza due to Israel’s ongoing war and the blockade that has prevented lifesaving supplies from entering the Strip.
“There is a strong likelihood that famine is imminent within the northern Gaza Strip,” a group of international experts cautioned, urging immediate action.
“Immediate action, within days not weeks, is required from all actors who are directly taking part in the conflict, or have influence on its conduct, to avert and alleviate this catastrophic situation,” the independent Famine Review Committee (FRC) stated in an urgent alert issued on Friday.
The FRC highlighted the findings of the latest Snapshot Report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), published on October 17. The report “classified the entire Gaza Strip in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency) acute food security, with IPC Phase 3 (Serious) level of acute malnutrition in September–October 2024.”
The report also revealed that 133,000 Palestinians were classified as facing “catastrophic food insecurity.”
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In its risk analysis, the FRC warned that “under a reasonable worst-case scenario, a risk of Famine existed for the whole of the Gaza Strip between November 2024 and April 2025.”
The committee emphasized that food availability in Gaza must be understood in the context of a collapsed food system.
According to data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), “the number of aid shipments being let into the Gaza Strip (data up to 27 October 2024) is lower now than at any time since October 2023.”
Staggering Death Toll
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 44,330 Palestinians have been killed, and 104,933 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
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Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
