UN says no food has entered northern Gaza since start of October, putting 1 million people at risk of starvation

By Kareem Khadder, Abeer Salman, Eyad Kourdi and Pauline Lockwood, CNN

(CNN) — No food has entered northern Gaza since the start of October, putting 1 million people at risk of going hungry, the World Food Programme told CNN on Friday.

In August, approximately 700 hundred aid trucks entered northern Gaza. In September, only 400 aid trucks entered, after commercial operations ceased at the Allenby Crossing on the border between the occupied West Bank and Jordan, the WFP added. No food trucks have entered northern Gaza in October, the WFP told CNN.

On Wednesday, the WFP said in a report that the aid entering the strip has plummeted to its lowest level in months, forcing the organization to stop the distribution of food parcels in October.

“Hunger remains rampant and the threat of famine persists,” WFP added.  “If the flow of assistance does not resume, one million vulnerable people will be deprived on this lifeline.”

Meanwhile, two of central Gaza’s main bakeries have been shut down for three days, according to CNN footage and bakery workers.

Al-Banna Bakery and Zadna Bakery in Deir al-Balah, both supported by the WFP, have halted operations due to a lack of flour and fuel, bakery workers and residents told CNN.

“I am the head of a family of six. The day I work, I can feed my family. The day I don’t, we don’t eat,” said Ahmad Abed, an employee at Al-Banna Bakery. “People are chasing flour, and we go to bakeries searching for where bread is available.”

Amjad Al-Shawa, Director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network, told CNN that the depletion of flour and other production materials has led to the closure of essential bakeries that produce bread as part of humanitarian aid.

“Most of our people have come to rely on this aid. Now, they are at risk of hunger and famine,” Al-Shawa added.

Bread remains the number one staple food for Palestinians and has become a crucial basic necessity since the war started just over a year ago.

Earlier this week, the UN’s OCHA said: “September saw the lowest volume of commercial and humanitarian supplies entering Gaza since at least March 2024.”

Israel’s military launched a new ground operation in northern Gaza on October 6, after seeing signs of Hamas rebuilding.

The military has issued fresh evacuation orders for residents in northern Gaza, adding it had expanded the scope of the “humanitarian area” in Al-Mawasi in the south. But some residents have told CNN they are wary of attempting to leave besieged parts of northern Gaza, citing numerous Israeli attacks targeting Hamas militants in Israeli-designated “safe zones.”

CNN’s has reached out to the Israeli military about the lack of food and aid entering the strip.

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Journalist Mohammad al-Sawalihi contributed reporting.