CAIRO
\nThe head of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency said on Monday the hunger in the Gaza Strip was \u201cman-made\u201d.
\nWith the war between Israel and Hamas now in its sixth month, the U.N. has warned that at least 576,000 people in Gaza \u2013 one quarter of the population \u2013 are on the brink of famine and global pressure has been growing on Israel to allow more access for aid.
\n\u201cWe are engaged in a race against the clock to try to reverse the impact of the spreading hunger and the looming famine in the Gaza Strip,\u201d United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) chief Philippe Lazzarini said during a press conference in Cairo with Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry.
\nThe crisis could be resolved and reversed through proper political will and Gaza could be \u201cflooded\u201d with food through the land crossings, he added.
\nThe UN agency chief also said more than 150 of UNRWA\u2019s facilities have been hit, damaged or completely destroyed during Israel\u2019s air and land campaign to destroy Hamas, the Islamist group that rules the territory from which it launched deadly attacks on southern Israel on Oct 7.
\n\u201cWe also know that a number of staff that have been arrested have gone through very tough investigation, ill-treatment and humiliation,\u201d Lazzarini said.
\nThe UN official said his entry request to Gaza\u2019s border town of Rafah has been declined: \u201cI intended to go to Rafah today, but I have been informed an hour ago that my entry into Rafah is declined.\u201d
\nThe rejection was not the responsibility of the Egyptian government, Egypt\u2019s foreign minister Shoukry said. \u201cYou were declined by the Israeli government, refused the entry which is an unprecedented move for representative at this high position,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CAIRO The head of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency said on Monday the hunger in the Gaza Strip was \u201cman-made\u201d. With the war between Israel and Hamas now in its sixth month, the U.N. has warned that at least 576,000 people in Gaza \u2013 one quarter of the population \u2013 are on the brink of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394678,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-394669","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n