In the Gaza Strip, the search for food becomes even more complicated and humanitarian aid remains blocked in Egypt

One in six infants under the age of two suffers from acute malnutrition in the Gaza Strip according to the United Nations, which has been warning of the imminent risk of famine for a week.

While discussions for a ceasefire and the release of hostages seem to be stalling, the population of the Gaza Strip is experiencing a real ordeal. People are hungry and desperate for food, and supplies of food aid are still stuck in Egypt.

The UN urges the world to “flood” Gaza humanitarian aid to save children who are starting to die of starvation. One in six infants under the age of two suffers from acute malnutrition, warn the United Nations, which warns of the imminent risk of famine. You should know that the fishing sector is at a standstill, agricultural infrastructure, including greenhouses and wells, has been damaged, harvests have not been able to take place due to Israeli bombings, a trickle of water brackish flows into household taps.

The population lives on its reserves. Obviously, there is no more meat, very little flour and rice. People eat canned goods, tomatoes, peppers or onions that they buy from street vendors. There is no more gas to cook food. Finding food has become an obsession for Gazans.

Humanitarian aid, stored in Egypt, arrives in trickles in the Palestinian enclave and when a truck manages to enter Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, it is literally stormed by a desperate and hungry crowd . In the north, where more than 300,000 Palestinians still reside, people are left to their own devices. All day long, they wander in the rubble of buildings in search of food.

Airdrops and humanitarian corridor envisaged with Cyprus

Faced with the difficulties of land supplies which depend on the goodwill of Israel, several countries including the United States, Jordan and France, have begun to parachute aid into the north of the Gaza Strip. Thursday March 7, Washington and Amman announced a third airdrop. American C-130 planes dumped more than 38,000 meals.

But it’s a drop in the ocean. Hence the idea of ​​a maritime corridor from Cyprus which is resurfacing, after having been mentioned several months ago. The World Food Program, WFP, is pressuring Israel to use the port of Ashdod as an aid drop-off point. Requests were made to the Israeli authorities, who have refused them until today.

Friday March 8, the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, is expected in Larnaca in Cyprus, to discuss the establishment of this maritime corridor. But the UN, like the NGOs, repeat that the solution to the food crisis in Gaza requires a ceasefire. It would allow the opening of the Rafah crossing point to let in the hundreds of trucks still stuck in Egypt.