Latest news with #VladimirJovcev
Scoop
26-05-2025
- General
- Scoop
Aid Teams Highlight Growing Anxiety In Gaza After Food Is Looted
23 May 2025 'Fifteen World Food Programme trucks were looted late last night in southern Gaza, while en route to WFP-supported bakeries,' the UN agency said. 'These trucks were transporting critical food supplies for hungry populations waiting anxiously for assistance.' The development is a blow to continuing efforts to help Gaza's most vulnerable people after Israel allowed a limited number of aid trucks into Gaza earlier this week, following an 11-week total blockade. Today, Gazans face 'hunger, desperation and anxiety over whether more food aid is coming', WFP said, noting that the uncertainty 'is contributing to rising insecurity'. 'We need support from the Israeli authorities to get far greater volumes of food assistance into Gaza faster, more consistently and transported along safer routes, as was done during the ceasefire,' it insisted. Critical first step The incident comes a day after about 90 trucks loaded with food, nutrition supplies, medicines and other critical stocks finally started to move from Kerem Shalom crossing point in southern Gaza deeper into the enclave. Footage released by WFP showed workers carrying sacks of flour into an empty warehouse and making dough ready for baking. In subsequent online posts, the UN agency said that a handful of bakeries were once again baking bread after receiving 'limited supplies' overnight. But the UN agency insisted: 'Bread alone is not enough for people to survive.' 'This is a critical first step - but assistance must be scaled up,' said WFP Deputy Country Director Vladimir Jovcev. 'More essential food is needed to push back the risk of famine.' More aid needed In an appeal for far more aid, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA said that what had been allowed in was 'nowhere near sufficient' to meet the needs of Gaza's 2.1 million people. 'Other supplies as basic as fresh food, hygiene items, water purification agents, and fuel to power hospitals have not been let in for over 80 days,' OCHA noted. More than 500 pallets loaded with nutrition supplies – nearly 20 truckloads – reached UNICEF's warehouse in Deir al Balah on Thursday, according to OCHA. These supplies included ready-to-use therapeutic food and lipid-based nutritional supplements which were then repackaged into smaller loads for delivery to people via dozens of distribution points. On Thursday, humanitarian teams moved another batch of about 100 truckloads of aid to the Kerem Shalom border crossing and picked up about 35 inside Gaza. The deliveries included more flour, nutrition items, and medical supplies. OCHA said supplies that are collected usually reached Kerem Shalom a day or two earlier because of the long procedures at the crossing. As truckload sizes do not exactly match, teams inside Gaza stack an extra layer of pallets on each truck to make the most of the space. West Bank settler violence OCHA also updated on the situation in the West Bank where continued high levels of settler violence are having an alarming impact on the Palestinian population. On Thursday, an entire Bedouin community in Maghayer ad Deir, located near Ramallah, began dismantling their homes to move somewhere safer after Israeli settlers set up an outpost less than 50 metres away on Sunday. Altogether, more than 20 households are affected – roughly 60 adults and as many children. OCHA said attacks have escalated as settlers have stormed the community, threatened residents, broken into animal shelters and set fires. Also on Thursday, nearly 150 masked settlers torched Palestinian vehicles in the town of Bruqin, located in the Salfit area. Eight people were injured, with most sustaining burns while trying to put out the fires. The incident comes in the wake of the killing last week of a pregnant Israeli woman nearby, touching off a week-long Israeli operation that locked down about 11,000 Palestinians. Settler attacks also escalated during this time.
Morocco World
23-05-2025
- General
- Morocco World
Aid Trucks Looted in Gaza Amid Desperation, Dire Food Shortages
Rabat – Fifteen World Food Programme (WFP) trucks carrying critical aid and food supplies were looted late last night in southern Gaza, the UN agency confirmed today. These trucks were en route to bakeries supported by WFP, intended to provide essential food to a population suffering after weeks of near-total blockade by Israel. The looting, driven by desperation amid severe food shortages and growing anxiety, represents a serious setback to humanitarian efforts that had only just begun to resume following an 11-week blockade that severely restricted aid access, the UN said . Earlier this week, Israel allowed a limited number of aid trucks to enter Gaza for the first time in nearly three months. The WFP expressed deep concern over the looting, saying that the stolen supplies were crucial for 'hungry populations waiting anxiously for assistance.' The incident highlights the desperate situation faced by Gaza's 2.1 million residents, many of whom are struggling with hunger, anxiety, and growing insecurity. This uncertainty is 'contributing to rising insecurity' on the ground, WFP said, calling for urgent cooperation from Israeli authorities to allow larger volumes of aid to enter Gaza safely and consistently, as was done during previous ceasefires. Just yesterday, approximately 90 aid trucks carrying food, medicines, nutrition supplies, and other essentials began moving deeper into Gaza from the Kerem Shalom crossing. Footage shared by WFP showed workers carrying sacks of flour into warehouses and bakeries starting to produce bread once again. However, the agency cautioned that bread alone was not sufficient to meet the population's basic nutritional needs. WFP Deputy Country Director Vladimir Jovcev called the recent aid deliveries a 'critical first step' but warned that much more was urgently needed to avert famine. 'More essential food is needed to push back the risk of famine,' he said. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also noted the insufficiency of the aid allowed in so far, noting that vital supplies such as fresh food, hygiene products, water purification agents, and fuel for hospitals have been blocked for over 80 days. The combination of prolonged blockade, lack of food, and growing fear that aid deliveries will remain inadequate is driving some desperate individuals to loot aid trucks. Gaza's Health Ministry recently revealed that at least 29 individuals, all of whom were children and the elderly, died from famine. Tags: aidFamineGazaIsrael
