Surge of aid trucks have not yet entered Gaza, WFP sayspublished at 20:04 BST 11 October
20:04 BST 11 October
Mallory Moench
Live reporter
After a flurry of updates from Tel Aviv we’re turning our attention back to Gaza, as the World Food Programme (WFP) tells the BBC that a surge of aid trucks have “not yet” entered the territory.
One aid truck carrying WFP-labelled boxes was pictured arriving in Khan Younis, in the south, today.
The WFP says two to three trucks have been going in to the territory daily and they are yet to see the scale up to hundreds of trucks.
With full access, WFP, a UN agency, intends to restore its regular food
distribution system, boosting aid through 145 distribution points across Gaza,
the agency says.
WFP will scale up the number of bakeries it supports from 10 to 30
in the coming weeks – currently, 100,000 bundles (2kg) of fresh bread are being
produced daily.
The agency also plans to double a digital payments
programme to women, children, the elderly and those with disabilities who can’t
come to food distribution points to purchase food in local markets.
More than 170,000 metric tonnes of food managed by WFP are ready
for dispatch now or are en route, via Ashdod port in Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and the
West Bank – enough to feed Gaza’s population of more than two million people
for up to three months.
But to deliver at scale, “WFP requires fast,
efficient use of all entry points, secure and unhindered humanitarian access,
rehabilitation of vital infrastructure and storage facilities, and faster
clearance protocols at the Ashdod port”, the agency’s statement says.