A convoy of World Food Program (PAM/WFP) food was blocked by the Israeli army at the entrance to the Gaza Strip on Tuesday and then looted by a “desperate mob”, the UN agency said. Its effort has been “largely unsuccessful” to resume deliveries in northern Gaza, which is on the brink of famine.

The Rome-based PAM said the 14 trucks carrying nearly 200 tons of food had been waiting for three hours at the Wadi Gaza checkpoint in Zeitoun, in the southeastern part of the Palestinian enclave, but had not been given permission to proceed. further away.

The trucks were then ransacked by “a desperate mob that seized the cargo,” a statement said. The UN agency is exploring every way to get aid into the Gaza Strip, but that in reality the road is the only way to transport enough food to prevent the impending famine that threatens the enclave’s population.

An operation carried out today, in cooperation with the Jordanian air force, made it possible to drop by parachute six tons of food, an amount sufficient for 20,000 people, the UN agency announced.

“Food drops are a last resort and will not prevent famine. We need entry points into northern Gaza to deliver enough food for half a million people who desperately need it,” said Carl Schau, deputy executive director of the World Food Programme. .

Last week, Skow told the United Nations Security Council that famine is imminent in the northern Gaza Strip unless something changes.

The UN estimates that 2.2 million people, the vast majority of the enclave’s population, are on the brink of starvation, mainly in the north, where Israeli forces are blocking aid from entering.

Today, the World Food Program said hunger has reached “catastrophic levels” in the north.

“Children are dying of hunger-related diseases and suffering from severe malnutrition,” the UN agency said, calling for more entry points into the Gaza Strip, including from the north.

The World Food Program believes there is an urgent need to agree a ceasefire.