WFP delivers food to Gaza through Egypt's Rafah crossing

(Vatican Radio) For the first time since 2007, a humanitarian convoy of the United Nations World Food Programme was able to cross from Egypt into the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, carrying enough food to feed around 150,000 people for five days.

The opening of the new crossing was made possible by the Egyptian Government, and as WFP Global Media Coordinator Emilia Casella told Vatican Radio’s Linda Bordoni: it provides a major opportunity to scale up aid delivery to the people of Gaza who are in desperate need…

Listen to the interview: 

Emilia Casella explains that the delivery is particularly significant because it is the first time WFP has been able to get food through that crossing since 2007 at the start of the Gaza blockade.

“This is really going to open things up for us to be able to reach people especially in the southern part of the Gaza Strip” she said.

It also means food will be delivered more quickly and more effectively Casella says, and points out that WFP has been providing food to the people of Gaza since the start of the conflict at the beginning of July, with daily emergency food rations to up to 350,000 displaced people.

Casella says WFP is also working to provide one-off food distribution to others who have been affected by conflict: more than half a million in people.

She explains that WFP has its own staff on the ground in Gaza but it also works together with the UN Relief and Works Agency that works in Gaza and runs schools in Gaza that are currently being used as shelters.  

Casella says the parcels WFP is delivering include ready-to-eat food such as canned meat, canned beans, tea and dates as well as food for cooked meals. 
 
She also says before the conflict WFP was already providing assistance to almost 400,000 people in Gaza as well as nutritious snacks for children in schools.

WFP and its partners are constantly reviewing the needs on the ground to provide the necessary assistance, but Casella points out that to be able to continue its food assistance programmes in Palestine, WFP has estimated it will need approximately US$70 million for its humanitarian response in Gaza through to the end of the year.

Donations are welcome she says for this and other ongoing humanitarian emergencies. All details can be found on the WFP website.