All crossings into Gaza need to be ‘open and reliable’ during ceasefire, WFP says

‘Keeping people alive’ is priority during first phase, says official at UN food agency

Lorries carrying aid wait on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, ready to enter Gaza, on Thursday. Reuters

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Food is being stockpiled at all border crossings into Gaza, ready to be sent in as soon as the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas comes into effect, a senior UN official told The National on Friday.

But to ensure enough aid reaches those in need, all entry points should be "open and functioning reliably" and distribution teams should to be able to move freely and safely inside the Palestinian enclave, the World Food Programme's Middle East senior spokeswoman Abeer Etefa said.

The six-week first phase of the proposed three-stage truce is scheduled to begin on Sunday and will include the exchange of Hamas hostages for Palestinians jailed by Israel, the retreat of Israeli forces from urban areas and an increased flow of aid into Gaza.

The 600 lorries of assistance per day provided for in the ceasefire terms is a step up from the amounts that Israel has allowed in for most of its 15-month military offensive in Gaza, which has devastated the territory, killed or injured tens of thousands and displaced most of its 2.3 million population. The UN estimates that 90 per cent of Gazans are facing food insecurity.

"We are ready to scale up and distribute life-saving assistance for one million in Gaza ... the most important thing is to keep people alive," Ms Etefa said. Teams are already mapping and planning which areas will be visited by aid workers, she said.

"Hungry and desperate Gazans need 150 lorries of food a day, or 300,000 tonnes every month, to provide meaningful assistance," Ms Etefa said. "We need to flood Gaza with food supplies." She said food aid in the form of dry foods like pasta, rice and flour need to be complemented by fresh produce such as vegetables, meat and dairy, meaning that local production needs to be supported.

A child cries as Palestinians gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis in Gaza's southern area of Khan Younis. Reuters

Negotiations on the second stage of the ceasefire are scheduled to begin 16 days after the first phase begins, but the focus now is on ensuring that first stage is completed successfully, with aid teams taking matters "day by day", Ms Etefa said. "Phase two will be extremely complicated on how to get people back on their feet and help them rebuild their livelihoods. It will be incredibly challenging and difficult," she said.

"People are in a situation where they have lost their homes – including our own staff. They don't have homes to sleep in. There are many questions ahead. Funding and reconstruction are among the things that need to be reconsidered."