The food situation in Palestine is extremely worrying, Ertharin Cousin, the executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme told NDTV today.
The food situation in Palestine is extremely worrying, Ertharin Cousin, the executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said today.
"We went from serving 10,000 people to 300,000 people in a matter of days. We are serving them now with vouchers because there's no food available, there's no place for them to cook," Ms Cousin told NDTV during her visit to Chennai. "We are particularly concerned about children receiving nutrition and the nutrition products they require. We are also worried about mothers who are breastfeeding, we are providing them with additional micro-nutrients that they require as well."
On a specific question about blockade by Israel, she explained, "The reality is that WFP is getting the food in, both from the Israeli side from the West Bank as well as Egypt. And the challenge is in getting across the country. When the fighting was underway, it was very difficult for us to access different areas of Gaza just as it was for people in Gaza to move around. So we are very pleased that now since there are these ceasefires, that we can reach out to those areas that were difficult to access"
On its preparedness to tackle the developing Palestinian crisis the WFP chief also said, "We are always prepared for the worst, that's who we are at the WFP. We are very very pleased with the response we have received from the international community for supporting our work."
The UN body is already fighting emergency food situations in Central Africa, Southern Sudan and Syria.