GAZA – Food deliveries to Gaza have increased since the US-brokered ceasefire took effect nearly two weeks ago, but the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that supplies remain far below what is needed to avert famine across the war-torn enclave.
WFP spokesperson Abeer Etefa said on Tuesday that about 750 metric tonnes of food are entering Gaza daily—less than half of the agency’s target of 2,000 tonnes needed each day to meet minimum survival needs.
“Access remains severely limited,” Etefa told reporters in Geneva. “Only two of the seven Israeli-controlled crossings into Gaza are operational. To scale up effectively, we have to use every border crossing point right now. It’s the only way we can save lives and push back on the famine in the north of Gaza.”
According to the UN, many aid requests continue to be denied by Israel without explanation, even at the two open crossings.
Etefa said some nutrition supplies for children and pregnant women had reached northern Gaza, but not nearly at the scale required.
“We haven’t had large-scale convoys into Gaza City or to the north,” she said, adding that the WFP has not been cleared to use the main north–south Salah al-Din road, a key route for humanitarian access.
The food that has entered Gaza so far could feed about half a million people for two weeks. However, families are rationing their portions out of fear that the fragile ceasefire could collapse.
“They eat part of it and keep some for emergencies, because they are not confident how long the ceasefire will last,” Etefa noted.
The truce, mediated by US President Donald Trump, is part of a wider 20-point plan that calls for Israel to allow “full aid” into Gaza.
An Israeli security official told Reuters that shipments were continuing through the Karem Abu Salem crossing and others “in accordance with the plan,” but did not specify which crossings were open.
The WFP has expanded its food distribution network to 26 centres—up from five last week—but the number remains far short of its goal of 145 centres across Gaza.
Most are located in the southern and central regions, where access is relatively easier.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Rafah crossing with Egypt would remain closed until Hamas returns the bodies of Israeli captives.
On Tuesday, Hamas’s Qassam Brigades said it had handed over the bodies of two Israeli prisoners exhumed in Gaza, bringing to 13 the total number of bodies returned under the ceasefire deal.
