The executive director of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), Cindy McCain, reported Sunday that she has “paused” the delivery of aid through the temporary dock built by the United States in the Gaza Strip, citing concerns for the safety of its workers.
McCain explained in an interview with the U.S. television network CBS that yesterday two of its warehouses were bombed, so they have “taken a step back just for the moment” to ensure that his team is “in safe conditions and on safe ground before resuming” operations.
The WFP chief, who noted that one man was injured in the attack, recalled that the agency remains “operational” in the rest of the enclave, “doing everything possible in the north and in the south” to “avoid” a famine, despite the difficulty of operating “there” and in the face of the “looting” they have faced.
“But, in fact, it is the kind of thing that makes a cease-fire necessary. We have to stop this so that we can go in on a large scale with our help and also with other help from other organizations. We can’t continue this somehow, because what almost happened in the north with the famine could happen in the south,” he said.
McCain explained that since he mentioned that northern Gaza is already the scene of a “full-blown famine” crisis that is progressively descending into the south of the enclave, statements criticized by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli authorities have allowed them to bring “more” trucks to the north.
“Every day I make decisions to take food from the hungry and give it to the starving. We need a ceasefire, we need it now so we can feed ourselves and this is not happening in the south. We are right on the verge in the south of the same thing happening,” he added.
Thus, he has pointed out that there are people who are starving and have no access to food because of the danger they are under. “We can’t just go in and feed them, we have to do it on a large scale. In addition to food, they need water, medicine… famine is not only about hunger, but also about all the other aspects,” he explained.