Red Cross voices concerns over hunger in Gaza
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warned the international community that hunger in the under-siege Gaza Strip was “beyond catastrophic”, Turkish news outlet Anadolu Agency (AA) reported on February 8.
In the much-awaited International Court of Justice ruling last month on Israel’s genocide case, brought by South Africa, the court called on the Middle Eastern state to limit civilian deaths, nearly 29,000 in Gaza as of February 13, as well as allowing aid into the territory home to 2.2 million people, 1.8 million of whom have now been displaced as a result of uninterrupted bombardments.
Following the ICJ verdict, clips of a flock of Israelis obstructing the roads in order to stop aid trucks entering Gaza circulated online much to the anger of social media users.
It is no secret that Israeli forces have on numerous occasions deprived Palestinians of food, water, fuel and electricity amongst other basic necessities which are acts that breach international law.
READ: Red Cross under fire in Gaza
On aid entering Gaza, IFRC spokesperson Tommaso Della Longa commented, “There is some aid and some trucks of aid entering the Gaza Strip. Now is a question. Is this enough? It’s not. It should be way more.”
Based in Geneva in Switzerland, the international humanitarian aid organisation reaches 160 million people who are affected by conflict, health crises and natural disasters per annum and have repeatedly sounded the alarm bells regarding the troubling Gaza situation.
Longa added that it was difficult to reach Gaza, notably it’s northern part, in a secure manner and stressed, “I think that the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is beyond catastrophic.”
A December report from the Intergrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a food security expert organisation, found that by this month, virtually all of Gaza’s inhabitants would face crisis levels of acute food insecurity and that one in four households would be enduring famine-like conditions.
AA/ IFRC
