WFP: Gaza hunger crisis deepens as convoy attack kills and injures dozens; aid movements blocked

Ross, a World Food Programme official in Rome, told a United Nations Correspondents Association briefing that the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip has deteriorated sharply and that recent violence directed at an aid convoy underscored dangers to civilians and relief operations.

"A third of the population are not eating for multiple days in a row," Ross said, adding that "a quarter of the population are facing famine-like conditions." He said "more than almost a hundred thousand women and children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition and need treatment as soon as possible."

Ross described a convoy incident the previous day in which WFP staff initially reported that at least 40 people had been killed and many more injured; other reports since then have given higher figures. He said WFP cannot independently verify final casualty totals. "I don't have a final number on that," Ross said. He characterized the incident as "one of the greatest tragedies we've seen for our operations in Gaza" and "completely avoidable."