ISTANBUL, May 26: UN World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director Cindy McCain warned on Sunday that half a million people in Gaza are “extremely food insecure” and at risk of famine, urging the international community to step up efforts to deliver humanitarian aid on a large scale, Anadolu Ajansi reported.
McCain, speaking on CBS’s Face the Nation, described the situation as a “catastrophe”, criticising Israeli authorities for allowing only limited aid entry between March and mid-May. “They have let a few trucks in. This is a drop in the bucket compared to what’s needed,” she said.
McCain said the WFP was able to bring in around 600 trucks per day during the last ceasefire, but deliveries have now dropped to about 100, which is “not nearly enough”.
She emphasised the urgent need to scale up, saying: “We need to get in and get in at scale and be allowed to feed these people before further catastrophe occurs.”
McCain urged diplomatic pressure on Israel to continue aid. “We can’t be allowed to sit back and watch these people starve to death with no outside diplomatic influence to help us,” she said. “These poor souls are really, really, really desperate.”
Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing more than 53,900 Palestinians, most of them women and children. – TVS
