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Updated 5 June (Previous updates: 30 May, 22 May, 17 May)
With limited aid entering through southern and central Gaza, WFP has been forced to provide families with reduced rations - where rations are possible - and prioritize providing hot meals, especially targeting more than 1 million people displaced from Rafah.
The limited rations come as the UN's HUNGER HOTSPOTS report - jointly published by the WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organization - warns of broader regional ramifications of the crisis, which risk exacerbating the already high food security needs in Lebanon and the Syrian Arab Republic.
Calls to action:
- WFP needs Israeli authorities to facilitate the pickup and delivery of humanitarian supplies entering Kerem Shalom (Karam Abu Salem) entry point.
- Humanitarian organizations need safe and unhindered access to reach all civilians in need across Gaza.
- We also need a conducive environment for our partners, be they UN agencies or others to be able access people and scale up.
Internally displaced people in Rafah after an airstrike in late May. Photo: WFP/Ali Jadallah
Exhausted from constant displacement, hunger and fear, people are desperate for the war to end. WFP reiterates UN Secretary-General António Guterre's call for a ceasefire and for the humanitarian space to be protected so we can do our work.
- WFP provided over 7.7 million hot meals in May across central and southern Gaza and Gaza City through a network of 71 community kitchens. WFP is gradually increasing the capacity of kitchens that we partner with and has so far been able to serve up to 430,000 meals in one day.
- In central and southern Gaza, limited distributions of food parcels are taking place providing families with reduced rations. We have been able to resume food distributions, however limited, due to new food parcels received through the port and more recently Kerem Shalom.
- The Israeli incursion in Rafah is having a devastating impact on civilians and on humanitarian operations, including WFP's ability to operate in the south.
People displaced from Rafah are a key target of dwindling aid supplies. Photo: WFP/Ali Jadallah - People across Gaza need access to food, clean water and fuel (including for trucking) and generators to pump water. Medical supplies are also urgently required.
- Access has improved in the north of Gaza, with WFP delivering through the Western Erez crossing. We hope we can continue using this route safely, sustainably, and scaled up.
- In Gaza City and the north, WFP has started distributing food parcels and wheat flour to families through UNRWA shelters and cooperating partners, at distribution points and through shops. In May, WFP was able to deliver around 12,000 metric tons of assistance.
- While basic commodities are available in markets in southern and central Gaza - despite being highly unaffordable to people - the lack of commercial goods entering through northern crossings means markets in northern Gaza are either empty or food is sold at astronomical prices.
A child showing signs of malnutrition at an International Medical Corps field hospital in Gaza, to which WFP supplied nutritional supplements, in March. Photo: WFP/Ali Jadallah
Due to the ongoing conflict, local mobile and internet operators are experiencing network outages due to damaged infrastructure, limited access to fuel, and insecure conditions for carrying out repairs. This makes it difficult to maintain the remaining functional network. Connectivity is worsening as displaced people relocate from Rafah to the northern areas.
