GENEVA: Maintaining the Gaza ceasefire is critical for delivering life-saving food aid in the territory, the United Nations said Tuesday, repeating a call for all border crossings to be opened.

The US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect on October 10, but on Sunday the Israeli military carried out deadly strikes on Gaza over apparent truce violations by the Palestinian armed group.

“Sustaining the ceasefire is vital; really it’s the only way we can save lives and push back on the famine in the north of Gaza,” Abeer Etefa, Middle East spokeswoman for the UN’s World Food Programme, told reporters in Geneva.

“We know it’s a fragile ceasefire; the most important thing is that it lasts.”

Etefa said that since the ceasefire came into force, 530 WFP trucks had crossed into Gaza, bringing in more than 6,700 tonnes of food, which she said was “enough for close to half a million people for two weeks”.

Around 750 tonnes a day are now coming through, which, although more than before the ceasefire, remains well below WFP’s target or around 2,000 tonnes daily.

“Convoys are pushing through, food is getting to the warehouses and distributions are happening in an organised and dignified manner,” she said.

– ‘Survival mode’ –

The spokeswoman said WFP now had 26 food distribution points open in Gaza — up from five on Friday, but still far short of the 145 it hopes to run throughout the territory. Most are in the south and centre of the Strip.

“The response has been really overwhelming,” Etefa said.

“People are showing up in large numbers, grateful for the efficiency of food assistance as well as the dignified way of people standing in line, quickly getting the food rations.”

She said nine out of the 30 bakeries WFP would like to supply were running, but would require much larger quantities of wheat flour coming through the border.

“As we speak, half a million people are benefiting from the fresh bread,” said Etefa.

“The good thing is that we’re getting to the most vulnerable,” notably women heads of households and the elderly.

She said Gazans were in “survival mode”, eating only some of the food received, and saving the rest as they are “extremely worried” that the ceasefire might collapse.

Etefa said WFP trucks were only coming through the Kerem Shalom and Kissufim crossings, but called for every entry point into the Palestinian territory to be opened, particularly those in the north, where the food situation “is extremely dire”.

“We don’t have an indication on when those border points will be open,” she added.
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