NGO warns of eventual famine in Gaza Strip

Ramallah, Jul 31 (Prensa Latina) The Gaza Strip may face famine due to the financial crisis suffered by the United Nations Relief and Public Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Middle East (URNWA), a spokesman said.

July 31, 2023
08:23

1.2 million refugees in the Strip regularly receive food aid from the agency, URNWA spokesman Adnan Abu Hasna said, as quoted by the Al-Quds news portal.

There is a high possibility that the aid provided will stop due to the cuts that has affected all international organizations, including the World Food Program, he stressed.

The official considered that the situation will become more complicated due to the lack of funds to pay salaries.

“We urgently need 70 million dollars to buy food for the Strip and another 30 million for Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon and Syria”, he said.

Israel keeps Strip under lockdown since 2007, when the Islamic Resistance Movement came to power there.

According to data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the cumulative cost of the Israeli blockade and economic restrictions on Gaza totaled $16.7 billion from 2007 to 2018, a figure equivalent to six times the Gross Domestic Product of the Strip.

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