Skip to main content
Gifts from The Morning Star
Only enough food supplies in Gaza for two weeks, says UN agency
Trucks line up at the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip after Israel blocked the entry of aid trucks into Gaza, March 2, 2025

THE United Nations food agency only has enough supplies in the Gaza Strip to keep public kitchens and bakeries open for less than two weeks, the body said today.

Israel has imposed another blockade on Gaza to pressure Hamas into accepting an alternative ceasefire arrangement, six weeks into their fragile truce.

Israel allowed a surge of humanitarian aid during the first six weeks of the ceasefire. But the World Food Programme said on Wednesday that its stocks are low because it prioritised delivering food to the population. 

The UN agency also warned that its fuel stocks would only last for a few weeks.

Palestinians said prices spiked as people rushed to markets to stock up on supplies after Israel announced the tightening of its blockade. 

After more than 16 months of war, Gaza’s population is entirely dependent on deliveries of food and other aid. Most are displaced from their homes, and many need shelter.

This follows an agreement by Arab leaders on Tuesday to endorse a post-war plan for Gaza put forward by Egypt.

The plan would allow Gaza’s roughly two million Palestinians to remain in the territory, a counter-proposal to US President Donald Trump’s plan to force all Palestinians to leave.

The $53 billion (£42bn) plan’s endorsement by Arab leaders was welcomed by Hamas, rejected by Israel and given a lukewarm response by the Trump administration.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi expressed his appreciation for “the consensus among the Arab countries to support the reconstruction plan for the Gaza Strip, which allows the Palestinian people to stay on their land without displacement.”

In a social media post after the summit, Mr el-Sissi said he looked forward to working with Mr Trump, other Arab nations and the international community “to adopt a plan that aims for a comprehensive and just settlement of the Palestinian issue, ends the root causes of the Israeli Palestinian conflict, guarantees the security and stability of the peoples of the region and establishes the Palestinian state.”

White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said: “The current proposal does not address the reality that Gaza is currently uninhabitable and residents cannot humanely live in a territory covered in debris and unexploded ordnance. 

“President Trump stands by his vision to rebuild Gaza free from Hamas.”

A spokesperson for Israel’s Foreign Ministry, Oren Marmorstein, posted on X that the Egyptian plan “fails to address the realities of the situation” and said the summit's joint communique does not mention Hamas’s October 7 attack.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Sudanese displaced families take shelter in a school after being evacuated by the Sudanese army from areas once controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Omdurman, Sudan, March 23, 2025
Northeast Africa / 11 July 2025
11 July 2025
OPPORTUNITY BECKONS: BRICS member states family photograph - In the shadow of the Sugarloaf Mountain - during the 17th BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on July 6 2025. (L to R) Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov, Crown Prince of UAE Khaled bin Mohamed Al Nahyan, President of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto, President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, Premier of China Li Qiang, Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed, P
The Future / 11 July 2025
11 July 2025

ROGER McKENZIE expounds on the motivation that drove him to write a book that anticipates a dawn of a new, fully liberated Africa – the land of his ancestors

STRICKEN: Food distribution by the World Food Programme for internally displaced persons at the Wad Almajzoub farm camp Gezira state, Sudan
Features / 10 July 2025
10 July 2025

While much attention is focused on Israel’s aggression, we cannot ignore the conflicts in Africa, stoked by Western imperialism and greed for natural resources, if we’re to understand the full picture of geopolitics today, argues ROGER McKENZIE

World leaders partake in the 17th annual BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, July 6, 2025
BRICS / 7 July 2025
7 July 2025