Abeer Etefa, Spokesperson for United Nations World Food Programme spoke to CGTN Europe about WFP has depleted its food supplies in Gaza.
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00:00Well, earlier I spoke to Abir Ittefa, who is a spokesperson for the UN's World Food Program.
00:06We have another critical moment for Gaza as families face the worst humanitarian crisis since the conflict started 18 months ago.
00:16The World Food Program has now depleted all of its food supplies and food stocks that are meant for desperate, displaced families across Gaza.
00:26Well, yesterday, Friday, we've delivered the last remaining food stocks to hot meal kitchens in the Gaza Strip.
00:35These WFP-supported kitchens will soon run out of all food supplies.
00:41And these kitchens were providing around 645,000 meals on daily basis.
00:47It's basically, it's a small meal that gives people, you know, less than 25% of their daily nutritional needs.
00:57And this is a lifeline.
00:59Talk to me about the situation regarding yourself and other humanitarian organizations.
01:04Are the others supplying food into Gaza in the same situation as the WFP?
01:09Well, everyone is in the same boat.
01:13The borders have been closed since the 2nd of March, which means that no humanitarian aid, be it food, water, medicine, whatever, you know, you name it, has crossed into Gaza.
01:28The same applies also to the commercial sector.
01:30So also, you know, the markets are completely empty.
01:34Israel has said that a massive amount of food aid was sent into Gaza during the ceasefire.
01:41They're suggesting there should be enough food left.
01:45What is the WFP's response to that sort of statement?
01:49We did have a good amount of food that got into Gaza during the ceasefire.
01:56In the 42 days, we've managed to distribute full rations to people.
02:01We've managed to, you know, get wheat flour in.
02:05But this is how we survived for, you know, for 52 to 55 days without food supplies.
02:12Do you have any options to get food, more supplies into Gaza if these border crossings remain closed?
02:21The only way to get supplies into Gaza is via land and to be sending these convoys of trucks.
02:31We have 120,000 tons of food supplies sitting on border crossing points, just like, you know, a few miles from the people who need it.
02:41What we need is that these borders open so that we can get these supplies to people before it's too late.
02:48Talk to me about the current situation in terms of health and nutrition within Gaza,
02:54because this is a people that have been under sustained shortages for a long period of time.
03:02Well, you know, what we know is that families are surviving on one meal a day.
03:07Many are skipping some days so that they can have their children eat.
03:12We know that there are, you know, thousands and thousands of children are at risk of severe malnutrition
03:19because they haven't had, you know, the ability to have, you know, nutritious food.
03:26Even with our food supplies, these are dry food rations.
03:30You need the fresh fruits and vegetables.
03:32You need, you know, fresh dairy products.
03:35You need, you know, supplies that can give you the proper nutrition.
03:39So now people are even, you know, deprived of the dry food items that we give them.
03:48That's the pulses, the pasta.
03:50You know, you cannot survive on that.
03:52So we expect that there are high rates of malnutrition across Gaza.
03:57It's just that the ability to do proper assessments is not there with the security situation.
04:02Well, thank you.
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