Urges greater aid
DUBAI: The UK government has voiced alarm over worsening food insecurity in Gaza after the latest report by the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification warned that conditions are expected to deteriorate further.
In a statement on Thursday, a spokesperson for the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said the report showed Gaza “continues to face crisis levels of food insecurity.”
The spokesperson added that it was “completely unacceptable” that 1.2 million people are experiencing significant food shortages while around 90 percent of the population is confined to less than 30 percent of the Gaza Strip.
The FCDO stressed that “averting famine cannot be the benchmark for success” warning that Israeli restrictions on aid and repeated displacement are contributing to disease outbreaks, water shortages and the collapse of health services.
The UK reiterated that humanitarian assistance “must never be used as a political tool” and said it would continue supporting humanitarian organizations to operate in Gaza while pressing Israel to allow humanitarian aid and commercial goods to enter the territory at the scale required.
The IPC, a globally recognized system used to assess food insecurity, has repeatedly warned that large parts of Gaza face severe hunger and that sustained humanitarian access is essential to prevent the humanitarian crisis from worsening.
Agencies