United Nations Radio

The World Food Programme (WFP) has called on all parties to the conflict in Gaza to allow a "humanitarian breathing space" so that it can carry out an assessment of the needs of the most vulnerable people in Gaza and to resume full-scale distributions.

At the same time, the UN food agency welcomed the Israeli announcement of a three-hour ceasefire from Wednesday as a first step.

WFP says to ensure its ability to continue to provide food assistance throughout Gaza over the coming weeks and months, it is vital that all crossing points are reopened as soon as possible, most importantly the conveyor belt at the Karni crossing, and thus avoid any breaks in its supply line.

Palestinian child eats bread

WFP says it currently has sufficient food stocks in Gaza for the coming days (3,700 metric tons, as against a potential capacity of up to 7,500 tons), but due to the security situation, has serious difficulties in accessing much of this food and distributing it to beneficiaries.

WFP says despite continuing insecurity, it has succeeded in delivering food assistance to more than 50,000 people from its regular caseload of 265,000 non-refugee Palestinians in Gaza since the latest hostilities erupted on 27 December.

WFP says a further 15,000 people have been provided with bread, while canned meat and high-energy biscuits have been delivered to 13 Gaza hospitals sufficient for 6,000 patients and staff for up to one month.

This is Donn Bobb reporting for United Nations Radio.
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