The blocking took place on Tuesday, when the international agency sent its first shipment since deliveries to northern Gaza were suspended on February 20, due to a lack of security, the press release noted.

Although the convoy could not provide food to the starving people, we continue to explore all possible means to do so, WFP Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau said.

After being turned away, the trucks were diverted and then stopped by a large crowd of desperate people who looted the cargo and took about 200 tons of aid, the document pointed out.

Roads are the only option to transport the large quantities of food needed to avert famine in the north, although several countries have begun to drop aid from airplanes, the statement said.

In this regard, Skau stated that “airdrops are the last resort and will not prevent famine.”

We need northern entry points from Gaza that will allow us to deliver enough food for half a million people who desperately need it, he said, referring to the border crossings with Israel, which have been closed since last year.

Precisely, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry demanded on Wednesday that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government reopen all border crossings in view of the humanitarian crisis in the settlement.

This week, Palestinian authorities charged that famine in the Gaza Strip has begun to claim lives among the civilian population and warned of the risks derived from the spread of malnutrition.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that Palestinians in northern Gaza are suffering from a particularly extreme situation of malnutrition.

Families there are forced to scavenge for scraps of food left by rats and eat leaves to try to survive after nearly five months of war, the Save the Children organization informed in late February.

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