Flour supplies in Gaza depleted: UN agency

Gaza, April 27 (IANS) The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said on Sunday that its flour supplies in Gaza have been depleted as Israel continues to restrict the entry of food and humanitarian aid.

"UNRWA flour supplies also ran out earlier this week," it said on social media platform X.

"Hunger is getting worse in Gaza. People, including many children, are hoping to get some food to survive through the warm meals distributed by charities."

"About 3,000 of our trucks loaded with life-saving aid are ready to enter Gaza," it said, reiterating its call for lifting the blockade on the enclave to allow the delivery of urgent assistance to more than two million Palestinians, Xinhua news agency reported.

Israel has blocked the entry of all humanitarian aid into Gaza since March 2.

It then ended a two-month ceasefire with Hamas on March 18 and resumed deadly air and ground assaults on the enclave.

The renewed Israeli attacks have so far killed 2,151 Palestinians and injured 5,598 others, Gaza health authorities said on Sunday, adding the death toll in the enclave since the war began in October 2023 has risen to 52,243, with 117,639 injured.

On Friday, the UN World Food Programme said it had run out of food stocks in Gaza, as border crossings remain closed.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said that Palestinian children in the blockaded Gaza are starving.

"The government of Israel continues to block the entry of food and other basics," he said.

"A manmade and politically motivated starvation."

"Calls to bring in supplies are going unheeded."

Since March 2, Israel has kept Gaza's crossings closed to food, medical, and humanitarian aid, deepening the humanitarian catastrophe, according to government, human rights, and international reports.

"This is the longest closure the Gaza Strip has ever faced, exacerbating already fragile markets and food systems," it said, adding: "People are running out of ways to cope, and the fragile gains made during the short ceasefire have unravelled."

The news comes after the World Food Programme in late March said that all of its 25 bakeries in the Gaza Strip had shut down because of a lack of fuel and flour in the territory.

Israel says its blockade is crucial to its goal of weakening Hamas’ control over the population, while Israeli officials have repeatedly said there is "no shortage" of aid in Gaza and accused the militant group of withholding supplies.

--IANS

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