Gaza needs sufficient food aid to avoid famine

An official from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Gaza said Sunday that people in the besieged Palestinian enclave need sufficient food aid to avoid famine, reported Xinhua.

"There is no safe zone in the enclave, and the humanitarian crisis is getting more complex," Inas Hamdan, UNRWA acting public information officer in Gaza, said in a live interview in Cairo with Egypt's state-linked Al-Qahera News television network.

She said shelter centers in the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis and central Gaza are crowded with Palestinians fleeing from Rafah, the enclave's southernmost city, amid Israeli attacks, adding that "the number of people accumulated in each center is approximately 16,000."

She noted that UNRWA teams are trying to provide health services and distribute food supplies to the shelters, which need sufficient food aid to avoid famine.

Israel has launched a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023, after Hamas carried out a surprise attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people.

At least 36,439 Palestinians have been killed and more than 82,627 others injured since then, according to the figures released by the Gaza health authorities.