Shafaq News – Geneva
The United Nations has delivered food parcels to one million people in Gaza since the ceasefire began three and a half weeks ago, but aid still meets only half of the population’s needs, the World Food Program (WFP) said on Tuesday.
WFP spokeswoman Abeer Etefa told reporters in Geneva, “We need more access, more border crossings opened, and unrestricted use of key roads inside Gaza," to bring aid to more Palestinians.
The WFP aims to reach 1.6 million people through 145 distribution points—44 currently operational—and supports 17 bakeries providing bread daily to about 700,000 people. Aid trucks are entering only through Kerem Shalom and Kissufim crossings, limiting supplies, especially to northern Gaza.
Etefa noted that food consumption remains far below prewar levels, with families surviving mainly on grains and pulses. WFP Gaza spokeswoman Nour Hammad reported that food prices remain out of reach, saying “an apple now costs as much as a kilogram did before the war.”
“The needs are overwhelming,” Etefa warned. “We are in a race to save lives.”
The US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect on October 10, under which Israel returns 15 Palestinian bodies for each Israeli captive’s remains. So far, 225 Palestinian bodies have been repatriated, including 30 on October 30.
The truce ended more than two years of conflict in which Israeli strikes killed over 68,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.