UN | At least one quarter of Gaza’s population 576,000 people are one step away from famine and virtually the entire population desperately needs food resulting in aid trucks being shot at, looted and overwhelmed by hungry people, top UN officials said on Tuesday.
The officials from the UN humanitarian office and the UN’s food and agriculture organisations painted a dire picture of all 2.3 million people in Gaza facing crisis levels of food insecurity or worse, and civil order breaking down especially in the north where food and other humanitarian supplies are scarce.
And as grim as the picture is today, UN humanitarian coordinator Ramesh Ramasingham told the UN Security Council that there is every possibility for further deterioration.
He said that in addition to a quarter of Gaza’s population close to famine, 1 in 6 children under the age of two in northern Gaza are suffering from acute malnutrition and wasting, where the body becomes emaciated.
Health authorities in Gaza said on Tuesday that 96 people had been killed in the previous 24 hours.
A UN official said fierce fighting in Gaza has led to acute food insecurity, with one quarter of the population “one step away from famine.”
Meanwhile, negotiations over a pause in fighting and hostage releases are continuing under the mediation of Qatar and other countries.
US President Joe Biden expressed hope on Monday that negotiations would be concluded soon and a ceasefire realized by March 4.
A spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that an agreement has yet to be reached.
An article from The New York Times on Tuesday described Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as on “opposing political calendars.”
The article said Netanyahu “has a compelling interest in prolonging the war against Hamas to postpone the day of reckoning when he will face accountability for failing to prevent the October 7 terrorist attack.”
It went on to say Biden “conversely has a powerful incentive to end the war as soon as possible” ahead of the presidential election in fall.
