The head of the UN food agency said on Thursday that it was “very evident” during her visit to Gaza this week that there was not enough food in the Palestinian territory and that she spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the urgent need for more aid.
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The world’s leading authority on food crises said last week the Gaza Strip’s largest city was gripped by famine, and that it was likely to spread across the territory without a ceasefire and an end to restrictions on humanitarian aid.
Cindy McCain, the World Food Programme’s executive director, told Associated Press that starvation was under way in Gaza.
“I personally met mothers and children who were starving in Gaza,” she said. “It is real and it is happening now”.
Netanyahu, she said, was “obviously very concerned that people aren’t getting enough food”. In the past, he has denied that there is famine in Gaza and said the claims about starvation were a propaganda campaign launched by Hamas.
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