WFP Palestine Emergency Response External Situation Report #18

HIGHLIGHTS

• WFP is providing food to more than a million people in Gaza each month: ready-to-eat food parcels, hot meals, wheat flour and specialized products to address malnutrition and is actively working to rehabilitate collapsed food systems. In April, WFP delivered fuel and wheat flour to four bakeries in northern Gaza, enabling them to begin operating for the first time in over 170 days.
• In April so far, WFP delivered around 1,345 mt of food, enough food for 278,000 people into northern Gaza.
• WFP is deeply concerned about mass displacement and the humanitarian consequences of an escalation in fighting in densely populated Rafah, home to more than 1 million Gazans. All parties must ensure regular humanitarian access until a ceasefire is agreed.
• Overall, WFP’s emergency response requires USD 740 million to provide support for up to 1.1 million people monthly.

Situation Update

• Six months into the war, Gaza is facing unprecedented levels of hunger and displacement.
• Given the catastrophic hunger in Gaza, the UN system is working with the US government and other partners on a maritime corridor which would be an important additional relief route, provided UN concerns over neutrality and security are addressed, and land access is also expanded.
• Our ability to get food assistance to where it’s needed – including the north – has seen modest improvements. But to roll back six months of near starvation conditions and avert a famine require steady flows of food supplies, every day.