The United Nations remains acutely concerned about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, U.N. Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Monday as he announced that the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) is running out of food in the Gaza Strip. WFP has appealed to Israeli authorities to allow food consignments to reach the tens of thousands of people in Gaza. There have been extended closures of the Karni commercial crossing between Israel and Gaza, which have impeded the flow of food aid to the Palestinians, Dujarric said. As a result of the blockade, flour mills have been unable to provide 8,000 metric tons of wheat as contracted earlier by WFP. Wheat flour makes up 80 percent of the basic diet in Gaza. In related news, the European Union (EU) today offered the U.N. Agency that handles Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) $78 million in urgent aid. The Quartet, comprised of the US, U.N., Russia and Britain, "has made it clear in its statements that it is inevitable that governments will review their funding to the Palestinian Authority depending on the policies of the incoming Palestinian government," said Dujarric, when asked by SPA. "Today's EU action does not prejudge that," he added. The Quartet is still discussing the issue of the U.N. funding a Hamas-led government; it met at the working level in Brussels last Thursday.
