Driving the news:
Abeer Etefa, spokesperson for the World Food Programme (WFP), said at a Geneva press briefing that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have returned to northern Gaza — where famine was declared in late August — but their access to food remains “severely limited.” Displaced families in the south, she added, are living “in tents with inadequate access to food and services.”
Zoom in:
Etefa explained that over the past three and a half weeks, WFP managed to distribute food parcels to around one million people across Gaza — well below its target of 1.6 million. “Each family currently receives a reduced ration that covers only ten days,” she said, calling for the opening of additional border crossings and expanded access to Gaza’s main roads so humanitarian convoys can deliver aid more efficiently.
She warned that continued closures of northern crossings are forcing aid convoys to take “a slow and difficult route from the south,” severely delaying deliveries.
What they’re saying:
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), no food convoys have reached northern Gaza through direct crossings since September 12, with only the Kerem Shalom and Kisufim crossings currently operational.
The WFP continues to support 17 bakeries across Gaza — nine in the southern and central areas and eight in the north — to produce fresh bread for approximately 700,000 people daily. The agency plans to increase the number of bakeries it supports to 25 in the coming period.
Noor Hammad, WFP communications officer in Gaza, said she has witnessed “heartbreaking scenes” throughout the enclave but also “a shy joy on people’s faces as the guns went silent after so long.”
She said Gaza’s residents compared the destruction from more than two years of war to “the aftermath of an earthquake.”
“Food is gradually returning to markets,” Hammad noted, “but after people have exhausted their resources, prices remain unbearably high.” Some families, she added, are now “sharing a single apple that used to cost as much as a kilo before the war.”
The big picture:
While the limited aid flow marks “the beginning of a recovery journey,” WFP officials stress that sustained support and wider humanitarian access are vital to ensure food security for families “exhausted by siege and war.”
Go deeper:
Gazans Scramble for Food as Humanitarian Crisis Deepens
Zohre Khazaee - Mojtaba Darabi
