UK foreign minister warns of ‘real’ Gaza famine threat

The UN children's agency UNICEF has warned that the alarming lack of food, surging malnutrition and disease could lead to an "explosion" in child deaths in Gaza. One in six children aged under two in Gaza was acutely malnourished, it estimated on February 19.(AFP)

• UK announced £9.7m for aid, equipment and expertise to help set up the maritime corridor from Cyprus to Gaza

London: British Foreign Secretary David Cameron on Sunday warned the “prospect of famine is real” in Gaza, as a Royal Navy ship headed to the Mediterranean to help set up a maritime aid corridor.
Cameron said Britain was working with the United States, Cyprus and others to set up a “new temporary pier off the coast of Gaza to get aid in as quickly and securely as possible.”
“We need to continue to explore all options, including by sea and air, to ease the desperate plight of some of the world’s most vulnerable people,” he said.
Cyprus has vowed to continue with the humanitarian corridor despite the killing in an Israeli strike of seven aid workers unloading aid in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.
The seven workers, including three Britons, from the World Central Kitchen (WCK) charity died Monday as they left a warehouse having unloaded aid delivered by ship.
The UK also announced £9.7m for aid, equipment and expertise to help set up the maritime corridor from Cyprus to Gaza.
A first vessel, organized by the Spanish charity Open Arms and WCK, successfully delivered its cargo to Gaza on March 15 using the corridor. The second left Cyprus on March 30.
Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said Monday that preparations were underway for a third voyage and Cyprus was coordinating with the United States, which has sent military engineers to build a port in Gaza to facilitate aid deliveries.
With the situation in Gaza increasingly dire, donors have pursued alternatives including airdrops and maritime shipments.
But aid groups have been critical saying airdrops and maritime deliveries cannot make up for the lack of aid being delivered overland, which is at a fraction of its pre-war levels according to the UN.
The Gaza war broke out on October 7 with an unprecedented attack by Hamas militants into Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, Israeli figures show.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants also took more than 250 hostages, and 129 remain in Gaza, including 34 who the army says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33,137 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.