The United Nations food agency said on Saturday that no food aid had entered northern Gaza since 1 October, reports the Associated Press (AP).

The World Food Programme (WFP) said that the primary border crossing into the war-ravaged area had been closed for about two weeks, warning that Israel’s ongoing ground operation has a disastrous impact on food security for thousands of Palestinian families there.

Escalating violence in northern #Gaza is having a disastrous impact on food security.

No food aid has entered the north since 1 October.

It is unclear how long WFP’s remaining food supplies in the north, already distributed to shelters and health facilities, will last.

— World Food Programme (@WFP) October 12, 2024

“The north is basically cut off and we’re not able to operate there,” said Antoine Renard, the WFP country director of Palestinian territories, according to the AP.

The UN Palestinian refugee agency, Unrwa, has said that as many as 400,000 people are believed to be trapped by Israel’s latest Gaza offensive.

Concerns of a hunger crisis have risen in Gaza roughly a month after the UN’s independent investigator on the right to food accused Israel of carrying out a “starvation campaign” against Palestinians.

Israel has denied such allegations and insisted that it has allowed food and other aid into Gaza in significant quantities.

“Israel has not halted the entry or coordination of humanitarian aid entering from its territory into the northern Gaza Strip. As evidence, humanitarian aid coordinated by Cogat and international organisations will continue to enter the northern Gaza Strip in the coming day as well,” Cogat, the Israeli military body overseeing aid distribution, said in a statement on Wednesday.

The WFP said its food distribution points, as well as kitchens and bakeries in northern Gaza, have been forced to shut down due to airstrikes, military ground operations and evacuation orders, reports the AP. It said that the only functioning bakery in north Gaza, supported by WFP, caught fire after being hit by an explosive munition.

The WFP said its last remaining food supplies in the north – including canned food, wheat flour, high-energy biscuits, and nutrition supplements – have been distributed to shelters, health facilities and kitchens in Gaza City and three shelters in the northern areas. It is unclear how long these limited food supplies will last, said the WFP, warning that the consequences for fleeing families will be dire if the escalation continues.

(Source: The Guardian)