UN faces roadblocks in delivering aid to famine-hit north Gaza

The UN said Friday aid convoys were struggling to reach famine-hit areas of north Gaza due to war-damaged roads and the continued closure of key routes into the enclave's north despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas militants.

- REUTERS

Around 560 metric tons of food had entered the Gaza Strip per day on average since the US-brokered halt to two years of devastating war but this was still well below the scale of need, according to the UN World Food Programme.

With famine conditions in the Gaza City region, UN humanitarian affairs chief Tom Fletcher said this week thousands of aid vehicles would have to enter weekly to tackle widespread malnutrition, homelessness and a collapse of infrastructure.

“We're still below what we need, but we're getting there... The ceasefire has opened a narrow window of opportunity, and WEP is moving very quickly and swiftly to scale up food assistance,” WEP spokesperson Abeer Etefa told a news briefing in Geneva.