As fighting continues in the Gaza Strip, the 2.2 million people living there are in a crisis. According to the United Nations’ World Food Programme, or WFP, food and water supplies are running out in Gaza. The entire population is food insecure and at least one in four is facing extreme hunger, with the possibility of famine on the horizon.
“We are intensely focused on the very difficult and, indeed, deteriorating food situation for men, women, and children in Gaza, and it’s something that we’re working on 24/7,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken after visiting a WFP Regional Coordination Warehouse in Amman, Jordan. “I want to commend the extraordinary work of the World Food Program. To try and get more food, to more people, more effectively. They are doing this also at tremendous risk to their team on the ground in Gaza.”
“This is an effort that is absolutely essential, and it is imperative, imperative that we maximize assistance to people in need. Not only do we get it to Gaza, but once it is in Gaza, it can be effectively distributed to people who need it everywhere in Gaza. We’ll be working on that in the days ahead as well,” he said.
“The United States has worked from day one to open access routes into Gaza to get assistance to people who need it,” said Secretary Blinken. “We continue to work on that every single day, not only to keep the routes open but to multiply them and to maximize them to try to get, … more food, more assistance to more people more effectively.”
Indeed, the United States is by far the largest donor to the WFP, which has so far provided food to nearly 860,000 people in Gaza and the West Bank.
“The United States provides about 50 percent of the World Food Programme’s budget – about $3 billion over the last year – and we work hand in hand with the WFP not only in Gaza but in many other places around the world. At the same time, we’ve sent about 500,000 pounds of nutritious food products to Egypt for distribution in Gaza over the last couple of months,” said Secretary Blinken.
“Through all of these lines of effort, we’re determined to do everything we possibly can to ameliorate the situation for men, women, and children in Gaza when it comes to food, when it comes to humanitarian assistance more broadly.”
