United Nations says 9 out of 10 people in Gaza facing starvation as fighting rages

A top UN aid official has warned that half of the war-torn Gaza’s population is struggling with starvation, as fighting rages in the enclave.

Carl Skau, deputy director of the UN World Food Programme, WFP said nine out of 10 people cannot eat everyday as only a fraction of supplies needed have been able to enter the Gaza Strip.

He stressed that conditions in Gaza have made deliveries “almost impossible.”

The UN official added that the people of Gaza witnessed “confusion at warehouses, distribution points with thousands of desperate hungry people, supermarkets with bare shelves, and overcrowded shelters with bursting bathrooms.”

Only the Rafah border gate with Egypt has remained open, allowing a restricted quantity of aid to reach Gaza.

Israel agreed last week to open the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel into Gaza in the coming days, but only for the inspection of humanitarian trucks. The trucks would proceed to Rafah to enter Gaza.

Israel says it must continue air strikes on Gaza to eliminate Hamas and bring Israeli hostages home.

In the meantime, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas,has accused the United States of being complicit in war crimes, after it vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

He said he held Washington responsible for “the bloodshed of Palestinian children, women, and elderly in Gaza at the hands of [Israeli] occupation forces”.