Israel-Hamas war: World Food Programme pauses food deliveries to northern Gaza

The World Food Programme's (WFP) "live-saving" food deliveries to northern Gaza have been paused as the agency claimed that aid convoys had had to go through "complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order" while making those deliveries.

The UN agency claimed that the decision was taken aftertheir crews faced gunfire, looting and crowds.

The United Nations hadearlier issued a warning against looming famine in the north of Gaza since December. According to WFP, the latest reports are a proof of "precipitous slide into hunger and disease".

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The Israeli military had given orders for the evacuation of 1.1 million Palestinian civilians from all areas north of Wadi Gaza and asked them to find shelter in the south at the start when the ground offensive of Israel started in October.

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The evacuation area included Gaza City, which before the war started, was the territory's most densely populated area.

The WFP had earlier planned to begin a week-long delivery last weekend by sending 10 lorries every day to help "stem the tide of hunger and desperation".

However, on Sunday (Feb 18), as a convoy reached close to the Wadi Gaza checkpoint on its way north, it was "surrounded by crowds of hungry people" with "multiple attempts by people to climb aboard", and then on entering Gaza City faced gunfire, "high tension and explosive anger".

WFP claims 'witnessed unprecedented levels of desperation' in Gaza

The WFP claimed that in the last two days, its teams had "witnessed unprecedented levels of desperation" in the Gaza Strip.

"Food and safe water have become incredibly scarce and diseases are rife, compromising women's and children's nutrition and immunity and resulting in a surge of acute malnutrition. People are already dying from hunger-related causes," it said.

A joint report issued by the WFP and the UN's children's agency UNICEF on Monday found that the the situation was "particularly extreme" in the north of Gaza.

Nutrition screenings conducted at shelters and health centres in the north found that more than 15% of children under two years of age were "acutely malnourished", the WFP said.

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The agency has claimed that they will find ways to soon resume deliveries in a "responsible manner" and appealed for a major expansion of aid to northern Gaza.

The agency said that this would need significantly higher volumes of food entering Gaza from different routes and demanded the opening of crossing points between Israel and northern Gaza.

"Gaza is hanging by a thread and WFP must be enabled to reverse the path towards famine for thousands of desperately hungry people," it said.

(With inputs from agencies)