United Nations aid deliveries to Gaza were suspended again on Friday due to shortages of fuel and a communications shutdown, deepening the misery of thousands of hungry and homeless Palestinians.
The United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) said civilians faced the “immediate possibility of starvation” due to the lack of food supplies.
Palestinian news agency WAFA said a number of Palestinians were martyred and others injured in an Israeli strike that hit a group of displaced people near the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt — the transit point for aid.
Al Jazeera TV cited sources as saying that nine people were martyred in the strike. There was no immediate comment from Israel on the reported strike and Reuters could not verify it.
WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain said nearly the entire population was in desperate need of food assistance.
“Supplies of food and water are practically non-existent in Gaza and only a fraction of what is needed is arriving through the borders,” she said in a statement.
“With winter fast approaching, unsafe and overcrowded shelters, and the lack of clean water, civilians are facing the immediate possibility of starvation,” McCain said.
