The U.N. emergency food relief agency halted deliveries to northern Gaza due to safety concerns. Meanwhile, the United States for the third time vetoed an Arab resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.
The World Food Program said on Tuesday it won't provide food in Gaza Strip's north until conditions are restored that allow for safe deliveries. That's raising starvation fears because nutrition screenings found 1-in-6 children under the age of 2 are acutely malnourished there.
"The decision to pause deliveries to the north of the Gaza Strip has not been taken lightly, as we know it means the situation there will deteriorate further and more people risk dying of hunger," the agency said. "Gaza is hanging by a thread and WFP must be enabled to reverse the path towards famine for thousands of desperately hungry people."
Aid entering Gaza from the Rafah border crossing with Egypt is at a virtual standstill. About 500 trucks used to enter Gaza before the war began last year, supplying 2.3 million Palestinians, most of whom have been uprooted from their homes. Last month around 200 aid trucks were crossing the border each day, but that average slowed this month by about 75%.
At the United Nations' headquarters in New York, the U.S. delegation vetoed Algeria's U.N. Security Council proposal to demand that the warring parties pause fighting and release all hostages. Thirteen other members of the 15-nation council backed the measure; the U.K. abstained.
The United States' U.N. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield called the voting "wishful and irresponsible" because it "would put sensitive negotiations in jeopardy" because it would "actually give them something that they have asked for without requiring them to do something in return.” She said the council should support a resolution that demands a "temporary cease-fire as soon as practicable, based on the formula of all hostages being released."
The U.S. offered an alternative resolution calling for a temporary cease-fire in Gaza and the lifting of all restrictions on humanitarian aid, but only after Hamas releases all of the 240 hostages it took in its Oct. 7 surprise attack that killed 1,200 Israelis. More than 100 have gained their freedom but about a fourth of those remaining are believed to have died.
At least 29,195 Palestinians have been killed and more 691,000 injured in the war that ensued, according to U.N. figures that rely on tallies by the Gaza-based Ministry of Health, part of the Hamas-controlled government.
In December, the U.S. delegation also vetoed the United Arab Emirates' draft resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza, where Israel's military offensive is pushing Palestinians toward starvation.
'The collapse of civil order'
Aid trucks entering Gaza's north have declined in recent weeks amid Israel's bombardment and ground offensive. Though WFP's food aid deliveries resumed on Sunday after a three-week suspension, chaos erupted when crowds of hungry people surrounded a truck convoy.
"First fending off multiple attempts by people trying to climb aboard our trucks, then facing gunfire once we entered Gaza City, our team was able to distribute a small quantity of the food along the way," WFP said.
"On Monday, the second convoy’s journey north faced complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order," it said. "Several trucks were looted between Khan Younes and Deir al Balah and a truck driver was beaten. The remaining flour was spontaneously distributed off the trucks in Gaza city, amidst high tension and explosive anger."
WFP said its teams witnessed "unprecedented levels of desperation" over the past two days, confirming Gaza’s "precipitous slide into hunger and disease. Food and safe water have become incredibly scarce and diseases are rife, compromising women and children’s nutrition and immunity and resulting in a surge of acute malnutrition. People are already dying from hunger-related causes."
London-based Save the Children said the Palestinian children in Gaza who are being denied access to food and basic supplies will suffer lifelong consequences, and rising numbers of them are at risk of malnutrition.
“This is an entirely man-made catastrophe that is causing devastating physical and mental harm to children, with potentially deadly and life-altering consequences," said Hannah Stephenson, the organization's global head of policy and advocacy, health and nutrition.
