<\/p>\n
![\"Palestine,](\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/WF1883697-20240613_PSE_WFP-Photolibrary_8616.jpg\")
A WFP-supported food distribution point at a shop in Deir El Balah. Photo: WFP\/Photo library<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
Corinne Fleischer describes Gaza as \u201ca terrible situation getting worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the past two weeks, 21 World Food Programme (WFP) food distribution points have been closed under evacuation orders. \u201cUNRWA (the UN Relief and Works agency for Palestine) says that 86 percent of the Strip is under an evacuation order,\u201d she says on a video call from her office in Cairo \u2013 WFP\u2019s Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe visited the enclave in July.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo million people are crammed into 14 percent of the territory.\u201d<\/p>\n
With continuous evacuation orders forcing WFP to uproot food distribution sites, precise targeting of the most vulnerable groups becomes challenging. We provide ready-to-eat food, hot meals and nutrition support to breastfeeding women and small children.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe support partners in almost 80 kitchens, where they cook meals, pack and distribute them to people in camps,\u201d Fleischer explains.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/5000_WPF_shop_fleischer-Ali-jadallah_26.07-100-2-6-5.jpg\")
Corinne Fleischer meets women and WFP staff visiting a retail distribution point in Gaza. Photo: WFP\/Ali Jadallah<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/h2>\nAverting famine<\/strong><\/h2>\nShe previously visited Gaza last December. \u201cThen it was really about how do we bring food in \u2013 that\u2019s still very much the case,\u201d she says. \u201cNow, at least we have a dedicated WFP operation on the ground.\u201d Our main accomplishment? \u201cWe have helped prevent full-scale famine from happening,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
There are currently nearly 500,000 people at\u00a0IPC5\/Catastrophe<\/a><\/em>, the highest grade of food insecurity on the global standard for measuring food insecurity \u2013 down from 1.1 million people earlier this year, with more than half the population of Gaza at risk.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
![\"In](\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/WF1888862-AP3I8692-copy.jpg\")
Samah is among pregnant and breastfeeding women receiving lipid-based nutrition supplements from WFP. Photo: WFP\/Ali Jadallah<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
Fleischer is keen to highlight the positive impacts of humanitarian supplies making it through.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, we don\u2019t bring enough food into Gaza,\u201d she says. \u201cWe don\u2019t bring in what we plan for the month because we don\u2019t have enough crossing points open. We need all the crossings open and at full capacity.<\/p>\n
\u201cOperations are super-complicated. We work in a war zone. Roads are destroyed. We are waiting hours at checkpoints for green lights to move.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"Palestine,](\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/WFP_Gaza_WF1845073_20240218_PSE_Jaber-Badwan_7165.jpg\")
A camp flooded by rain and sewage in February – Hepatitis A is on the rise among children in Gaza as diseases fester. Photo: WFP\/Jaber Badwan<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
WFP, she stresses, also works to support the wider humanitarian community. \u201cWe are leading the Logistics Cluster (the interagency coordination mechanism) and supporting partners to bring in their goods through the Jordan corridor. We are receiving their goods in the north at the Zikim crossing point. We\u2019re helping them in Kerem Shalom. So, of course, we\u2019re helping with fuel supplies too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nHow would she describe things on the ground in Gaza right now?<\/p>\n
\u201cGazans cannot get out, and they\u2019re asking to get out,\u201d she says. \u201cThey\u2019re beyond exhausted. There is no space \u2013 one makeshift tent after the other up to the sea. Streets are teeming with people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the breakdown of sewage systems, lack of water and waste management means diseases such as Hepatitis A, which is spreading among children, are allowed to fester.<\/p>\n
<\/h2>\nMoving around<\/strong><\/h2>\nAnd what about safety for WFP personnel? \u201cWe are lucky that nothing has happened to our amazing staff \u2013 more than 200 UNRWA staff have been killed,\u201d she says. \u201cThat is not acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
She adds: \u201cWe have amazing security officers who advise management on which risks to avoid, so that we can stay and do our work safely and families can access our assistance safely.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the risks are high. Very high. We have bullets close to our convoys. We\u2019re there repairing roads. We\u2019re there moving with our trucks. We\u2019re there reaching people. And it\u2019s very dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n![\"WFP](\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27600%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20600%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27600%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\")
WFP food parcels have helped fend off famine in Gaza – but we need all access points opened for much needed food to get in. Photo: WFP\/Ali Jadallah<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n <\/p>\n
On the path to recovery, the private sector has a role to play, says Fleischer \u2013 take the reopening of shops, for example.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you think of a lifeline, of hope, or a sense of normalcy, it\u2019s surely when the staple bread is back in the market,\u201d she says of bakeries that have reopened with WFP support. \u201cBakeries need wheat flour, they need yeast, and diesel too \u2013 and that\u2019s where we come in.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/h2>\nEating better foods<\/strong><\/h2>\nIn the south of Gaza, \u201cbasic food items are slowly re-emerging in food markets. You can actually find vegetables, fruits in the markets but because prices are high, they remain out of reach for most,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd in any case, people don\u2019t have cash. There are no jobs. Even our own staff tell us, \u2018We have a salary, but we can\u2019t access cash’.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fleischer is keen for humanitarian efforts to reach a stage where people \u201cstop eating things they have been eating for the past nine months\u201d \u2013 to diversify diets heavily dependent on canned food (provided by WFP) and whatever people can get their hands on.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n\nHot meals distributions in Gaza need a steady flow of supplies to keep going. Photo: WFP\/Ali Jadallah<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n <\/p>\n
She says the aim is to bridge the distance between \u201cwhat people need for a diverse diet, what we supply, and what the market has\u2026 by putting buying power into the hands of families.\u201d<\/p>\n
WFP commissions shops that redeemed its vouchers before the war to act as distribution points for in-kind assistance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fee shopkeepers receive enables them to pay their workers, create jobs or keep jobs going, and remain open.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/h2>\nWhat is her biggest fear for Gaza?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\u201cThat there is no end to this [war],\u201d says Fleischer. \u201cThat we continue with ever less space for the people who already have nowhere to go back to. Even if they moved back to the north, where could they go?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything is flattened. There are no homes, it\u2019s all destroyed. We need a long ceasefire that leads to peace so we can operate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fleischer, who has served with WFP in Darfur and Syria, adds: \u201cThis level of destruction I\u2019ve never seen. Hospitals and clinics are destroyed, food processing plants are destroyed. Everything is destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n\nChildren take fortified biscuits delivered by WFP at a makeshift camp in southern Gaza. Photo: WFP\/Ali Jadallah<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n <\/p>\n
\u201cOur Gazan staff are, of course, in the same situation as the people who have nowhere to go \u2013 there is no space in Gaza, and no safe space.\u201d<\/p>\n
Did Fleischer see anything in during her visit that suggested joy. \u201cThere is this never-give-up attitude from the people, from the families we serve,\u201c she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t believe children still run to you and laugh with you. They probably see in us hope that there will be an end to all this \u2013 a sign they are not forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
08 August 2024 Reviving markets is critical for recovery, says World Food Programme\u2019s regional chief Corinne Fleischer describes Gaza as \u201ca terrible situation getting worse.\u201d Over the past two weeks, 21 World Food Programme (WFP) food distribution points have been closed under evacuation orders. \u201cUNRWA (the UN Relief and Works agency for […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[6926],"document-source":[2109],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[2517,1769,2057,2005,2349,6871,1745],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-299759","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-stories","document-source-world-food-programme-wfp","document-subject-access-and-movement","document-subject-armed-conflict","document-subject-food","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-living-conditions","document-subject-malnutrition","document-subject-refugees-and-displaced-persons","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/299759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/299759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":299765,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/299759\/revisions\/299765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=299759"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=299759"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=299759"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=299759"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=299759"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=299759"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=299759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
She previously visited Gaza last December. \u201cThen it was really about how do we bring food in \u2013 that\u2019s still very much the case,\u201d she says. \u201cNow, at least we have a dedicated WFP operation on the ground.\u201d Our main accomplishment? \u201cWe have helped prevent full-scale famine from happening,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
There are currently nearly 500,000 people at\u00a0IPC5\/Catastrophe<\/a><\/em>, the highest grade of food insecurity on the global standard for measuring food insecurity \u2013 down from 1.1 million people earlier this year, with more than half the population of Gaza at risk.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Samah is among pregnant and breastfeeding women receiving lipid-based nutrition supplements from WFP. Photo: WFP\/Ali Jadallah<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n Fleischer is keen to highlight the positive impacts of humanitarian supplies making it through.<\/p>\n \u201cRight now, we don\u2019t bring enough food into Gaza,\u201d she says. \u201cWe don\u2019t bring in what we plan for the month because we don\u2019t have enough crossing points open. We need all the crossings open and at full capacity.<\/p>\n \u201cOperations are super-complicated. We work in a war zone. Roads are destroyed. We are waiting hours at checkpoints for green lights to move.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A camp flooded by rain and sewage in February – Hepatitis A is on the rise among children in Gaza as diseases fester. Photo: WFP\/Jaber Badwan<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n WFP, she stresses, also works to support the wider humanitarian community. \u201cWe are leading the Logistics Cluster (the interagency coordination mechanism) and supporting partners to bring in their goods through the Jordan corridor. We are receiving their goods in the north at the Zikim crossing point. We\u2019re helping them in Kerem Shalom. So, of course, we\u2019re helping with fuel supplies too.\u201d<\/p>\n How would she describe things on the ground in Gaza right now?<\/p>\n \u201cGazans cannot get out, and they\u2019re asking to get out,\u201d she says. \u201cThey\u2019re beyond exhausted. There is no space \u2013 one makeshift tent after the other up to the sea. Streets are teeming with people.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the breakdown of sewage systems, lack of water and waste management means diseases such as Hepatitis A, which is spreading among children, are allowed to fester.<\/p>\n And what about safety for WFP personnel? \u201cWe are lucky that nothing has happened to our amazing staff \u2013 more than 200 UNRWA staff have been killed,\u201d she says. \u201cThat is not acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n She adds: \u201cWe have amazing security officers who advise management on which risks to avoid, so that we can stay and do our work safely and families can access our assistance safely.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the risks are high. Very high. We have bullets close to our convoys. We\u2019re there repairing roads. We\u2019re there moving with our trucks. We\u2019re there reaching people. And it\u2019s very dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n WFP food parcels have helped fend off famine in Gaza – but we need all access points opened for much needed food to get in. Photo: WFP\/Ali Jadallah<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div> <\/p>\n On the path to recovery, the private sector has a role to play, says Fleischer \u2013 take the reopening of shops, for example.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you think of a lifeline, of hope, or a sense of normalcy, it\u2019s surely when the staple bread is back in the market,\u201d she says of bakeries that have reopened with WFP support. \u201cBakeries need wheat flour, they need yeast, and diesel too \u2013 and that\u2019s where we come in.\u201d<\/p>\n In the south of Gaza, \u201cbasic food items are slowly re-emerging in food markets. You can actually find vegetables, fruits in the markets but because prices are high, they remain out of reach for most,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd in any case, people don\u2019t have cash. There are no jobs. Even our own staff tell us, \u2018We have a salary, but we can\u2019t access cash’.\u201d<\/p>\n Fleischer is keen for humanitarian efforts to reach a stage where people \u201cstop eating things they have been eating for the past nine months\u201d \u2013 to diversify diets heavily dependent on canned food (provided by WFP) and whatever people can get their hands on.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hot meals distributions in Gaza need a steady flow of supplies to keep going. Photo: WFP\/Ali Jadallah<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div> <\/p>\n She says the aim is to bridge the distance between \u201cwhat people need for a diverse diet, what we supply, and what the market has\u2026 by putting buying power into the hands of families.\u201d<\/p>\n WFP commissions shops that redeemed its vouchers before the war to act as distribution points for in-kind assistance.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fee shopkeepers receive enables them to pay their workers, create jobs or keep jobs going, and remain open.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat there is no end to this [war],\u201d says Fleischer. \u201cThat we continue with ever less space for the people who already have nowhere to go back to. Even if they moved back to the north, where could they go?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEverything is flattened. There are no homes, it\u2019s all destroyed. We need a long ceasefire that leads to peace so we can operate.\u201d<\/p>\n Fleischer, who has served with WFP in Darfur and Syria, adds: \u201cThis level of destruction I\u2019ve never seen. Hospitals and clinics are destroyed, food processing plants are destroyed. Everything is destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Children take fortified biscuits delivered by WFP at a makeshift camp in southern Gaza. Photo: WFP\/Ali Jadallah<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div> <\/p>\n \u201cOur Gazan staff are, of course, in the same situation as the people who have nowhere to go \u2013 there is no space in Gaza, and no safe space.\u201d<\/p>\n Did Fleischer see anything in during her visit that suggested joy. \u201cThere is this never-give-up attitude from the people, from the families we serve,\u201c she says.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t believe children still run to you and laugh with you. They probably see in us hope that there will be an end to all this \u2013 a sign they are not forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 08 August 2024 Reviving markets is critical for recovery, says World Food Programme\u2019s regional chief Corinne Fleischer describes Gaza as \u201ca terrible situation getting worse.\u201d Over the past two weeks, 21 World Food Programme (WFP) food distribution points have been closed under evacuation orders. \u201cUNRWA (the UN Relief and Works agency for […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[6926],"document-source":[2109],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[2517,1769,2057,2005,2349,6871,1745],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-299759","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-stories","document-source-world-food-programme-wfp","document-subject-access-and-movement","document-subject-armed-conflict","document-subject-food","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-living-conditions","document-subject-malnutrition","document-subject-refugees-and-displaced-persons","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/299759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/299759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":299765,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/299759\/revisions\/299765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=299759"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=299759"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=299759"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=299759"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=299759"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=299759"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=299759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/h2>\n
Moving around<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/h2>\n
Eating better foods<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/h2>\n
What is her biggest fear for Gaza?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"WFP](\"https:\/\/www.wfp.org\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/media_embed\/public\/2024-08\/WF1880253%20EB2A6636.jpg?itok=F6d80mNJ\")
![\"Hot](\"https:\/\/www.wfp.org\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/media_embed\/public\/2024-08\/WF1852323%20AP3I9619.jpg?itok=BT_d64s2\")
![\"Children](\"https:\/\/www.wfp.org\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/media_embed\/public\/2024-01\/Children_CAMP_GAza_WF1833614_20240111_PSE_Ali-Jadallah_3I7990.jpg?itok=_oY6Jziv\")