ROME: The United Nations World Food Programme urged the international community and “all donors” Thursday to help feed millions of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and rebuild the war-ravaged area.
The UN agency said it had provided more than 15,000 tons of food since a fragile January 19 ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, feeding more than 525,000 people, but that much more needed to be done.
“We call on the international community and all donors to continue supporting WFP’s life-saving assistance at this pivotal moment,” said Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau following a visit.
“The scale of the needs is enormous and progress must be maintained. The ceasefire must hold,” he said in a statement.
“In critical sectors beyond food — water, sanitation, shelter, even getting children back into school — we need to work together,” he said, insisting that “this requires funding.”
Helping Gazans become self-sufficient could be through re-establishing commercial markets and local food systems, such as farming and fishing, the agency said.
Skau’s visit to Gaza came as Israel and Hamas resumed negotiations on the second phase of the ceasefire agreement, which has paused 15 months of relentless fighting and bombing following Hamas’s deadly October 7, 2023 attack.
UN’s World Food Programme needs 'all donors' support for Gaza's aid mission
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UN’s World Food Programme needs 'all donors' support for Gaza's aid mission
- The UN agency provided more than 15,000 tons of food since January 19
Israel holds 9,500 Palestinian prisoners as of March
- Administrative detainees represent 36 percent of all Palestinians in Israeli prisons
LONDON: Israeli prison authorities held 9,500 prisoners and detainees as of the first week of March, indicating a 2.15 percent increase from February, according to reports from Palestinian prisoners’ organizations.
Currently, there are 73 female prisoners and 350 individuals under the age of 18 detained in the notorious prisons of Megiddo and Ofer.
The number of administrative detainees is 3,442, the highest percentage among those sentenced, arrested, or classified as “unlawful combatants.” They represent 36 percent of all Palestinians in Israeli prisons, where individuals can be indefinitely detained without charge in military detention centers.
There are also 1,249 “unlawful combatants” detained from inside the Gaza Strip after Oct. 7, 2023, as well as those who were detained from Lebanon and Syria.
