The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said Tuesday that it suspended food distribution in Rafah as supplies collapse and the security situation remains precarious.
UNRWA announced the suspension on X, formerly Twitter, without elaborating.
Abeer Etefa, a spokesperson for the UN’s World Food Program (WFP) warned Tuesday that “humanitarian operations in Gaza are near collapse.”
Etefeh added the WFP had also stopped distribution in Rafah after exhausting its stocks.
“Limited distributions” of reduced food parcels are ongoing in central Gaza but “food parcel stocks will run out within days,” she said.
The UN has said no aid deliveries via a floating pier set up by the US have arrived over the past two days, the Associated Press reported. The UN said Tuesday it is planning new routes to distribute aid from the pier as the trucks have been intercepted by crowds of needy residents.
If food and other supplies don’t resume entering Gaza in “in massive quantities, famine-like conditions will spread,” said Etefeh.
The Israeli government said in a update Tuesday that 403 aid trucks “were inspected and transferred to the Gaza Strip, yesterday” and added that 26 bakeries “are currently operation in Gaza, providing close to 5 million breads, rolls and pita breads daily.”
Earlier in May, Israel launched a military operation into Rafah, a city that had housed over a million refugees, vowing to root out remaining Hamas fighters. The UN has not specified how many refugees remain in Rafah since Israel launched its operation there.
International aid deliveries have been cut off since Israel closed the Rafah border crossing to Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, which had been a primary entry point.
The post Israel-Hamas war: UN suspends Rafah food aid appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
