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EU humanitarian aid lead: pockets of Gaza already experiencing famine

A senior official at the European Commission has said there are already pockets of famine happening in Gaza.

Reuters reports Janez Lenarčič, the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, told the media that famine could spread to the whole of the region.

He urged Israel to open more road routes to deliver aid to Gaza, saying that airdrops and sea routes could not make up for opening more land routes for aid. He also appealed for a surge in funding.

Source: The Guardian

Janez Lenarcic, the EU’s humanitarian aid and crisis management chief, has called on Israel to open additional land crossings, shortly after the bloc’s parliament voted a resolution warning of a “catastrophic” humanitarian situation in Gaza.

  • “There is a risk of famine,” Lenarcic told reporters. “We already have a very strong and credible indication that there are pockets of famine already in the Gaza Strip.”

The UN estimates more than half a million of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are on the brink of starvation.

  • “What is needed is very clear: a surge in humanitarian aid into Gaza and its distribution throughout Gaza,” he said.

  • “There is no meaningful substitute for land access … we call on Israel to open additional land crossings.”

Source: Al Jazeera