'Nothing quite prepared me' WFP deputy Exec says after Gaza visit

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
9 Dec 2023 16:42

People in the Gaza Strip have been living without 'enough food' and 'packed into unhealthy shelters', the Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Program, Carl Skau, said following his visit to the Gaza Strip.

Carl Skau, the deputy executive director of the World Food Program, during his visit to the besieged Gaza Strip on December 8, 2023. (Social media)

"Living packed into unhealthy shelters or on the streets as winter closes in, they are sick, and they do not have enough food," the Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Program (WFP), Carl Skau, said while explaining the circumstances Palestinians in the Gaza Strip endure.

With more than 17,000 civilians dead in the ongoing Israeli-committed genocide in the Gaza Strip, Skau explained that fear was visible in the eyes of women and children.

Skau visited the Strip and underscored "We visited Gaza today, and nothing quite prepared me for the fear, the chaos, and the despair we encountered."

The visit included Corinne Fleischer, the WFP's regional director for the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe, and Palestine Country Director Samer Abdel Jaber who came in a show of support toward the besieged people and those employed by the WFP.

Emotional meeting with WFP colleagues and their families in #Gaza. They are doing unbelievable work, living in the crisis and tackling it at the same time.

We need safety for our staff.

And they need fuel, communications, and safe humanitarian access to be able to deliver aid. pic.twitter.com/XhsZDwFmgY
— Carl Skau (@CarlSkau) December 9, 2023

Staff not safe

Skau said, "With just a fraction of the needed food supplies coming in, a fatal absence of fuel, interruptions to communications systems, and no security for our staff or for the people we serve at food distributions, we cannot do our job."

Moreover, there is "Confusion at warehouses, distribution points with thousands of desperate hungry people, supermarkets with bare shelves, and overcrowded shelters with bursting bathrooms," Skau stressed before adding, "The dull thud of bombs was the soundtrack for our day."

According to the deputy executive director of the WFP, humanitarian aid will "only be possible with a humanitarian cease-fire."

"We have food on trucks, but we need more than one crossing. And once the trucks are inside, we need free and safe passage to reach Palestinians wherever they are," Skau explained, highlighting that "ultimately, we need this conflict to end."

Our staff are not safe. There is starvation. We cannot distribute the aid we have.

Today, from inside #Gaza, WFP's Deputy Executive Director @CarlSkau describes what he witnessed on the ground.

We need a humanitarian ceasefire. pic.twitter.com/rvvUtSCRrj
— World Food Programme (@WFP) December 8, 2023

Griffiths says operation in Gaza made 'not sustainable' by genocide

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths warned of the possible collapse of UN humanitarian efforts in the Gaza Strip after aid deliveries became "erratic" and "undependable" given that Israeli occupation attacks resulted in the elimination of any safe spaces in the southern Gaza Strip.

UN aid deliveries and operations, which are on the brink of collapse, have deteriorated to a "program of opportunism," said Griffiths, who lamented the extreme scarcity of supplies and the failure of the UN to deliver aid to large parts of Gaza.

"It's erratic, it’s undependable, and frankly, it’s not sustainable," Griffiths said speaking of UN operation in the Gaza Strip after "Israel" began heavily striking everything, including refugee housing locations.

"We do not have a humanitarian operation in southern Gaza that can be called by that name anymore," the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs stressed.

The United Nations has said its humanitarian efforts in the Gaza Strip are on the brink of collapse, stating that aid deliveries had become “erratic” and “undependable.” The warning comes as Israeli forces step up strikes on southern Gaza, where thousands of civilians previously fled for safety.