The UN World Food Programme (WFP) on Thursday called for urgent action to rebuild Gaza and increase international support to boost humanitarian assistance.
WFP Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau appealed for an increase in international support to boost humanitarian assistance for millions of people in Gaza as they seek to rebuild their lives.
Saying that WFP has sent in more than 15,000 tons of food since the ceasefire began on Jan. 19, he noted that it is not enough.
“This is a strong step in the right direction but it is not enough,” Skau said in a statement following his two-day visit to Gaza.
“The scale of the needs is enormous and progress must be maintained. The ceasefire must hold. We cannot go back.”
While it is too early to focus on recovery, Skau stated that it is critical that WFP and the entire humanitarian community assist Gazans to become self-sufficient and boost their long-term resilience against hunger.
“The people of Gaza are unique in their strength, resilience and capacity to rebuild,” he said.
He went on to say that international assistance should increasingly be geared towards supporting them in their first steps towards rebuilding their lives which requires funding.
“We call on the international community and all donors to continue supporting WFP’s life-saving assistance at this pivotal momen,” according to Anadolu.
The first batch of humanitarian aid, part of an air bridge that the Kingdom dispatched for Gaza earlier on Tuesday, arrived in the Strip later on the day.
The Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army (JAF) on Tuesday announced that the Kingdom launched an eight-day air bridge with 16 flights daily to send assistance to Gaza.
During a conference at the King Abdullah II Air Base of the Royal Jordanian Air Force, JAF Media Director Brig. Gen. Mustafa Hiari said that the air bridge ensures the delivery of critical relief supplies to inaccessible areas, preventing spoilage or damage, according to an army statement.
Hiari highlighted that JAF was the first to execute humanitarian airdrops into Gaza, achieving the third-largest modern logistical supply operation.
To date, JAF has carried out 125 Jordanian airdrops, facilitated 266 airdrops by allied forces, and dispatched 53 aircraft to Gaza through Egypt’s El Arish Airport, he noted.
Hiari stressed that JAF continues humanitarian initiatives through the field hospitals in northern and southern Gaza.
He said that the hospitals have treated more than 370,000 patients since the start of the Israeli war on the besieged Strip on October 7, 2023, and fitted 296 advanced prosthetics under the “Restoring Hope” initiative.
Hiari pointed out that JAF completed infrastructure for a new field hospital specialising in obstetrics and neonatal care, noting that the hospital is staffed with 82 personnel, including 55 from the Royal Medical Services.
Also speaking at the conference, Minister of Government Communication Mohammad Momani said that, under Royal directives, 16 military aircraft carrying relief, food and medical supplies, totalling 20 tonnes, were sent to Gaza via Qarara crossing in central Gaza for distribution in the north and south of the Strip, in coordination with the World Food Programme (WFP).
He added that this initiative is part of Jordan’s ongoing efforts, directed by His Majesty King Abdullah, to alleviate the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.
He also noted that two planes carrying aid from Italy and contributions from Greece and Malaysia are part of the relief effort.
Momani highlighted that Jordan was among the first countries to send aid and break the blockade on Gaza.
The minister added that Jordan’s national security relies on “steadfast support” for Palestinians’ presence on their land and the rejection of Israeli displacement policies.
He underscored that this stance aligns with Jordan’s strategic interests and its unwavering national and humanitarian principles.
Momani reiterated that regional peace can only be achieved by recognising the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and the establishment of their independent state.
Also speaking at the conference, Secretary-General of the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organisation (JHCO) Hussein Shibli pointed out that Jordan had previously dispatched eight similar flights in late November, carrying seven tonnes of aid distributed by the WFP.
Shibli noted that 147 humanitarian convoys, comprising 5,569 trucks carrying around 82,000 tonnes of aid, have been sent to Gaza in cooperation with the JAF.
He stressed JHCO’s commitment to Royal directives, ensuring continued coordination with relevant sides to maintain the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza according to The Jordan Times.
Describing the level of devastation across the Gaza Strip as “absolutely staggering”, the Head of Emergency Communications for the World Food Programme (WFP) has told UN News in an interview that civilians are desperate for lifesaving aid and there’s a growing risk of widespread famine.
Speaking from Gaza, Jonathan Dumont said many people have been displaced multiple times, and that families are living either in tents or in the rubble of collapsed buildings, with no access to electricity or running water.
The text has been edited for length and clarity.
UN News: How do you describe the situation on the ground in Gaza, after more than a year since the war erupted there?
Jonathan Dumont: The devastation is absolutely staggering. This year, I’ve been to Goma, Port au Prince, Khartoum, a lot of different places where people have issues getting food or have been displaced. But in Gaza, I haven’t met anyone who hasn’t been displaced at least two or three times, due to military activity.
Almost everyone has lost their home. In the south, a lot of people are living in tents, and with the winter coming, you have rain and wind blowing them over, flooding them. Most kids don’t have shoes.
A lot of people feel they have no choice but to go back to their homes, which are quite frequently, literally rubble. I met a few families who are living in basically the cement blocks that have collapsed over them, and there’s no electricity, running water or sewage. This is the second winter for many of them that they’re homeless.
UN News: What is the most striking story you’ve heard from people in Gaza?
Jonathan Dumont: When we were moving to Gaza City, we had to pass a checkpoint, and there were some bodies on a bridge in this sort of no man’s land area, and there were dogs eating the bodies. It was an horrific scene.
Some of our colleagues were tasked to pick up the bodies, and we couldn’t stop, but a bit later we came across two women and some children who were walking south, due to the intense military activity in the north. What struck me the most in that moment was that those children were going to come across the same scene of the dogs eating corpses, and I kept thinking about the impact that it might have on them.
UN News: You’ve been to the northern part of Gaza. Can you tell us more about what you saw there?
Jonathan Dumont: I’ve been to Gaza City, although I didn’t go to the areas in the far north. Gaza City is a huge city but many of the buildings have been destroyed. Before you had villas, beach cabanas and a fishing port, and now it is just a ghost town.
Much of Gaza has been destroyed in the ongoing conflict.
WFP is able to reach that area, so there’s some food there, but the food prices of what’s not coming from the international community, or from WFP, are through the roof. There was someone selling peppers for 195 dollars…five dollars for one pepper. People can’t afford that.
Bakeries are being treated as banks – with metal slots and a metal corridor to channel people through because people are desperate, and they don’t want people to get injured or crushed trying to get food.
In Khan Yunis, where we are distributing hot meals, people get really desperate – you can see it in their faces, in their eyes.
UN News: The IPC report warned of the acute hunger and maybe some of people are on the verge of famine. Do you think the food insecurity is getting worse in Gaza?
Jonathan Dumont: The problem is that there’s been a total breakdown of society here, there’s no police, no infrastructure or any of the structures of society. As a result, what we’ve had in the southern part of Gaza is that gangs are emerging. We’ve had our trucks coming in from the south looted, and our drivers beaten.
We are trying to find solutions to have a consistent flow of food in. Obviously, the easiest way to do that would be if there was a ceasefire, which we are always hopeful will happen. In the absence of that, we need to find a way of getting all the food that we have outside Gaza into the country so that people can access it. We need to make sure people have access to food.
UN News: Many of the bakeries are not functioning. How many of them are working at full capacity?
Jonathan Dumont: In the south there is none of the WFP’s bakeries which are big volume bakeries. In the north there are some, but in the south, there are just small bakeries, so people are improvising when they have some flour.
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