Rome - Saba:
The World Food Programme called on Wednesday evening for the opening of the closed border crossings with the Gaza Strip, stressing that any violence that leads to the killing or injury of hungry people while trying to obtain aid in the Gaza Strip is "completely unacceptable."
The World Food Programme said in a statement that "over the past four weeks, we have only been able to send 9,000 tons of food assistance into Gaza, a tiny fraction of what 2.1 million hungry people need."
The UN programme explained that "a very large number of people have died trying to access the meager food assistance entering" into the besieged Strip.
It stressed "the urgent need now to find safer routes for convoys, expedite permit approvals, provide reliable telecommunications services, and open more border crossings."