UN halts food shipments to Rafah as supplies run out

The United Nations (UN) on Tuesday said it had ran out of food supplies in Rafah, the city in the southern part of the Gaza Strip at the center of a possible new Israeli military push.

The UN said food distribution was halted due to insecurity and the lack of supplies, according to The Associated Press (AP). 

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the main agency providing aid to Palestinians in Gaza, said the distribution in the area is suspended. 

“Food distributions in Rafah, southern Gaza, are currently suspended due to lack of supplies and insecurity,” UNRWA said in Tuesday’s social media post on X. 

UNRWA also shared that due to the ongoing Israeli military operation in eastern Rafah, both the agency’s distribution center and the World Food Programme’s (WFP) are “inaccessible.” 

The UN added that no aid trucks have entered the area using the newly-built pier that was spearheaded by the U.S., according to AP. 

At least 800,000 people have been displaced from Rafah in the past two weeks, according to a UN official. The crisis has worsened since Israel launched its military operation into Rafah on May 6. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) captured the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt which has been shut down ever since. 

The UN said that around 1.1 million people in Gaza are on the brink of starvation. The U.S. has warned Israel not to invade Rafah with a developed plan that would ensure the safety of civilians in the area.