Gaza: WFP pauses food aid amid rising famine fear; US vetoes ceasefire resolution

The United States on Tuesday (February 20) vetoed an Arab-backed and widely-supported UN resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in the embattled Gaza Strip, saying it would interfere with negotiations on a deal to free hostages abducted in Israel.

The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 13-1 with the United Kingdom abstaining, reflecting the strong support from countries around the globe for ending the more than four-month war, which started when Hamas militants invaded southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage.

It was the third US veto of a Security Council resolution demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and came a day after the United States circulated a rival resolution that would support a temporary ceasefire in Gaza linked to the release of all hostages and call for the lifting of all restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Impending catastrophe in Rafah

Virtually every council member — including the United States — expressed serious concern at the impending catastrophe in Gaza's southern city of Rafah, where some 1.5 million Palestinians have sought refuge, if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu goes ahead with his plan to evacuate civilians from the city and move Israel's military offensive to the area bordering Egypt, where Israel says Hamas fighters are hiding.

Before the vote, Algeria's UN Ambassador Amar Bendjama, the Arab representative on the council, said: “This resolution stands for truth and humanity standing against the advocates for murder and hatred. A vote in favour of this draft resolution is a support to the Palestinians right to life. Conversely, voting against it implies an endorsement of the brutal violence and collective punishment inflicted against them.”

US presses for ceasefire with hostage deal

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the United States understands the council's desire for urgent action but believes the resolution would “negatively impact” sensitive negotiations on a hostage deal and pause in fighting for at least six weeks. If that happens, “we can take the time to build a more enduring peace,” she said.

The proposed US resolution, Thomas-Greenfield said, “would do what this text does not — pressure Hamas to take the hostage deal that is on the table and help secure a pause that allows humanitarian assistance to reach Palestinian civilians in desperate need.”

What happens next remains to be seen.

Two-state solution

In measures sure to anger Israel — and reinforce differences and tensions between US President Joe Biden and Israel's Netanyahu — the US draft resolution reiterates the same unwavering commitment to a two-state solution, which the Israeli leader opposes.

Biden has repeatedly called on Israel to protect Palestinian civilians, and the draft resolution says Israel's planned major ground offensive in Rafah “should not proceed under current circumstances.” And it warns that further displacement of civilians, “including potentially into neighbouring countries,” a reference to Egypt, would have serious implications for regional peace and security.

In another criticism directed at Israel, the US draft “condemns calls by government ministers for the resettlement of Gaza and rejects an attempt at demographic or territorial change in Gaza that would violate international law.”

World Food Programme pauses food delivery

The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday (February 20) it had to pause deliveries of food to isolated northern Gaza because of increasing chaos across the territory, hiking fears of potential starvation.

A study by the UN children's agency warned that one in six children in the north are acutely malnourished.

Entry of aid trucks into the besieged territory has sharply declined by more than half the past two weeks, according to UN figures. Overwhelmed UN and relief workers said aid intake and distribution has been crippled by Israeli failure to ensure convoys' safety amid its bombardment and ground offensive and by a breakdown in security, with hungry Palestinians frequently overwhelming trucks to take food.

The north, including Gaza City, has been isolated since Israeli troops first moved into it in late October. Large swaths of the city have been reduced to rubble, but several hundred thousand Palestinians remain in the area, largely cut off from aid.

Famine-like conditions

They describe famine-like conditions, in which families limit themselves to one meal a day and often resort to mixing animal and bird fodder with grains to bake bread.

“The situation is beyond your imagination,” said Soad Abu Hussein, a widow and mother of five children sheltering in a school in Jabaliya refugee camp.

Ayman Abu Awad, who lives in Zaytoun, said he eats one meal a day to save whatever he can for his four children.

“People have eaten whatever they find, including animal feed and rotten bread,” he said.

WFP said it was forced to pause aid to the north because of “complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order." It said it had first suspended deliveries to the north three weeks ago after a strike hit an aid truck. It tried resuming this week, but convoys on Sunday and Monday faced gunfire and crowds of hungry people stripping goods and beating one driver.

WFP said it was working to resume deliveries as soon as possible. It called for the opening of crossing points for aid directly into northern Gaza from Israel and a better notification system to coordinate with the Israeli military.

It warned of a “precipitous slide into hunger and disease,” saying, “People are already dying from hunger-related causes.”

UNICEF official Ted Chaiban said in a statement that Gaza “is poised to witness an explosion in preventable child deaths, which would compound the already unbearable level of child deaths in Gaza.”

65% of families eat only one meal a day

The report released on Monday ((February 19) by the Global Nutrition Cluster, an aid partnership led by UNICEF, found that in 95 per cent of Gaza's households, adults were restricting their own food to ensure small children can eat, while 65 per cent of families eat only one meal a day.

More than 90 per cent of children under 5 in Gaza eat two or fewer food groups a day, known as severe food poverty, the report said. A similar percentage are affected by infectious diseases, with 70 per cent experiencing diarrhea in the last two weeks. More than 80 per cent of homes lack clean and safe water.

A UN report in December found that Gaza's entire population is in a food crisis, with one in four facing starvation.

No end in sight

The war began when Hamas-led militants rampaged across communities in southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostages. The militants are still holding some 130 captives, around a fourth of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel has vowed to expand its offensive to Rafah, where more than half of the territory's population of 2.3 million has sought refuge from fighting elsewhere. Many have crowded into sprawling tent camps and overflowing UN-run shelters near the Egyptian border.

The United States has been working with mediators Egypt and Qatar to try to broker another ceasefire and hostage-release agreement. Hamas' top political leader Ismail Haniyeh was in Cairo to meet with Egyptian officials on Tuesday (February 20), but there was no expectation of a breakthrough.

(With agency inputs)