Hungry Palestinians rush to a food distribution kitchen in Gaza last week. Moiz Salhi/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty hide caption
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Moiz Salhi/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty
Hungry Palestinians rush to a food distribution kitchen in Gaza last week.
Moiz Salhi/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty
Nearly half a million people in Gaza now face starvation, according to a new report from the IPC, the international panel of famine experts who advise the United Nations.
For more than ten weeks, Israel has halted the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, to pressure Hamas to release Israeli hostages. Israel accuses Hamas of seizing aid, selling it on the black market and using aid distribution to reinforce its control of Gaza.
The UN says hundreds of truckloads of lifesaving supplies are waiting at the border. Meanwhile, inside Gaza, food is scarce. Humanitarian groups like the UN World Food Programme (WFP) exhausted supplies of basic staples weeks ago, forcing them to shut down their kitchens and bakeries, and everyday Palestinians are grinding up pasta and lentils to make flour for bread. Antoine Renard of the WFP says when he was in Gaza last week, wheat flour was selling for $10 a pound.
Juana Summers talks with Renard about what he’s seen in Gaza, and what’s next for the people there.
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You heard reporting in this episode from NPR’s Anas Baba, Daniel Estrin and Aya Batrawy. This episode was produced by Erika Ryan and Connor Donevan, and engineered by Tiffany Vera Castro and Peter Ellena. It was edited by Christopher Intagliata, James Hider and Nadia Lancy. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
