UN food agency says Gazans have ‘too few meals’ amid Israeli onslaught

There are too few meals for most Palestinians in the Gaza Strip amid a deadly Israeli offensive on the enclave, the World Food Program (WFP) said on Sunday.

"For most in Gaza, there is no house, no table, and too few meals," WFP Country Director for Palestine, Matthew Hollingworth said in a statement.

"We are hoping to be able to assist more bakeries, particularly in the northern areas where people are in desperate need, but we need access, and we need safety," he added.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 attack by Palestinian resistance group Hamas, killing at least 28,176 people and injuring 67,784 others, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli onslaught has left 85% of Gaza's population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure was damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

In late 2023 South Africa filed a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing Israel of failing to uphold its commitments under the 1948 Genocide Convention.

The UN court, in its interim ruling in January, ruled that South Africa's claims are plausible. It ordered provisional measures for Israel's government to desist from genocidal acts, and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.