WFP deliveries of food aid into northern Gaza suspended

A sack of flour stands in the warehouse of the UN World Food Programme(WFP). WFP has temporarily suspended the delivery of food aid to the north of the Gaza Strip, which has been under Israeli bombardment for months. Michael Kappeler/dpa

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has temporarily suspended the delivery of food aid to the north of the Gaza Strip, which has been under Israeli bombardment for months.

The WFP announced in a statement that deliveries would only be started up again once the conditions for safer distribution were in place.

After a three-week break, the WFP resumed deliveries to the north of the Palestinian coastal strip on Sunday. Since then, however, there have been chaotic scenes and riots during the distribution of food, the WFP said.

People have climbed onto lorries and in some places entire food trucks were looted. There were also occasional clashes, with shots fired and a lorry driver attacked.

The WFP said it is trying to resume deliveries as quickly as possible. The situation on the ground is deteriorating and more and more people are at risk of dying of hunger, it added.

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