UN relief agency pauses food deliveries to northern Gaza amid ongoing conflict

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) on Tuesday announced that it would stop sending supplies into the northern portion of the Gaza Strip as the security situation in the area deteriorates.

The pause comes shortly after the conclusion of a prior three-week pause that came in the wake of an attack on a United Nations Relief and Works Agency truck. The WFP indicated that the Sunday delivery attempt saw the organization's supply trucks surrounded by a hungry mob that attempted to climb on the vehicles and even saw the trucks come under fire. A second, Monday convoy saw several trucks looted.

"The decision to pause deliveries to the north of the Gaza Strip has not been taken lightly, as we know it means the situation there will deteriorate further and more people risk dying of hunger," the agency announced. " WFP is deeply committed to urgently reaching desperate people across Gaza but the safety and security to deliver critical food aid - and for the people receiving it - must be ensured."

The WFP did not set a timetable for a planned resumption of deliveries, but said they would remain on hold "until conditions are in place that allow for safe distributions."

Israel occupied much of northern Gaza early in the conflict, which began on Oct. 7 with a Hamas raid that saw its forces seize border towns and kill roughly 1,200 civilians. Fighting is still ongoing in the area, however.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.