ID :
38854
Mon, 01/05/2009 - 09:47
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/38854
The shortlink copeid
WFP INITIATES EMERGENCY FOOD DISTRIBUTION FOR GAZANS
By Muin Abdul Majid
DUBAI, Jan 5 (Bernama) -- The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is
responding to growing humanitarian needs in Gaza by distributing bread to
families in areas that have been badly hit by the recent upsurge in the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
WFP representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, Christine van
Nieuwenhuyse, said the current situation in Gaza was appalling and many basic
food items were no longer available in the market.
The scarcity of wheat has meant that the majority of mills and bakeries have
stopped working in Gaza, and there is an acute shortage of bread, the staple
food for the Palestinian people.
"We're responding to the immediate food emergency needs as much as we can,
but the destruction of local infrastructure and the shortages of basic utilities
such as fuel and gas mean that more people will fall into poverty, and have no
other option than to be assisted by the international community," Nieuwenhuyse
said in comments made available to the media here.
She said WFP urgently required US$9 million to meet foreseen additional food
needs caused by the upsurge in fighting.
Since the intermittent opening of the crossing points in November 2008,
Palestinian families in Gaza have experienced a drastic deterioration in living
conditions, with reduced quantities of food available on the market, shortages
of cooking gas and fuel as well as frequent power cuts.
WFP said the recent attacks in the Gaza Strip had prevented the world's
largest humanitarian agency and its partners from operating at full capacity and
had delayed the normal distribution of food to 265,000 non-refugees and
vulnerable individuals.
The agency said it had 3,300 tonnes of food in warehouses which would be
drawn down as food distribution resumes, security permitting, over the next
month.
The difficulty of guaranteeing humanitarian access into Gaza over the last
two months had reduced the availability of WFP food stocks but more food convoys
were being planned to replenish stocks for current and new food needs, it added.
-- BERNAMA
DUBAI, Jan 5 (Bernama) -- The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is
responding to growing humanitarian needs in Gaza by distributing bread to
families in areas that have been badly hit by the recent upsurge in the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
WFP representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, Christine van
Nieuwenhuyse, said the current situation in Gaza was appalling and many basic
food items were no longer available in the market.
The scarcity of wheat has meant that the majority of mills and bakeries have
stopped working in Gaza, and there is an acute shortage of bread, the staple
food for the Palestinian people.
"We're responding to the immediate food emergency needs as much as we can,
but the destruction of local infrastructure and the shortages of basic utilities
such as fuel and gas mean that more people will fall into poverty, and have no
other option than to be assisted by the international community," Nieuwenhuyse
said in comments made available to the media here.
She said WFP urgently required US$9 million to meet foreseen additional food
needs caused by the upsurge in fighting.
Since the intermittent opening of the crossing points in November 2008,
Palestinian families in Gaza have experienced a drastic deterioration in living
conditions, with reduced quantities of food available on the market, shortages
of cooking gas and fuel as well as frequent power cuts.
WFP said the recent attacks in the Gaza Strip had prevented the world's
largest humanitarian agency and its partners from operating at full capacity and
had delayed the normal distribution of food to 265,000 non-refugees and
vulnerable individuals.
The agency said it had 3,300 tonnes of food in warehouses which would be
drawn down as food distribution resumes, security permitting, over the next
month.
The difficulty of guaranteeing humanitarian access into Gaza over the last
two months had reduced the availability of WFP food stocks but more food convoys
were being planned to replenish stocks for current and new food needs, it added.
-- BERNAMA
