[On the ground update] Fear, chaos and despair

"We need this conflict to end." [View in browser]( [World Food Program USA.]( [DONATE]( {NAME}, Last Friday, the Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Carl Skau visited Gaza. Skau met with U.N. World Food Programme staff, local retailers and people affected by the ongoing conflict. He recounted the devastating reality in a statement below. Skau's message is clear: We must have safe passage for humanitarian aid to reach Gazans in need. I hope you will read Skau's full statement. Since the conflict escalated in October, the U.N. World Food Programme has reached nearly 1 million people with food and cash assistance. Your support has been critical to these efforts, but we still have more work to do. If you are able, [please donate now to send emergency food assistance and hope to children and families in Gaza and the West Bank.]( To prevent further suffering and death in both Gaza and Israel an immediate humanitarian ceasefire is essential. This is a call to action to have secure, unimpeded and sustained access for humanitarian aid. With gratitude, Barron Segar President and CEO World Food Program USA --------------------------------------------------------------- We visited Gaza today and nothing quite prepared me for the fear, the chaos, and the despair we encountered. Confusion at warehouses, distribution points with thousands of desperate hungry people, supermarkets with bare shelves, and overcrowded shelters with bursting bathrooms. The dull thud of bombs was the soundtrack for our day. At a food distribution, one woman told me she lived with nine other families in one apartment. They take turns sleeping at night because not all could lay down at the same time. Later, we drove by a cemetery with people gathered for what seemed like a burial. Looking more closely we saw they were cutting down trees in the cemetery to use as firewood. Our mission began with our vehicle stuck at the Rafah border for hours, a reminder of how cumbersome it is to get critical aid and staff into Gaza and the critical need for more border crossings. Our team inside Gaza is doing incredible work. They are living through an immense humanitarian crisis, while also trying to tackle that crisis. They have reached over one million people with food so far. They work resolutely every day, to prevent starvation among Gazans and keep finding creative solutions, despite the fear for their lives and the many challenges. But this is no longer tenable. With law and order breaking down, any meaningful humanitarian operation is impossible. With just a fraction of the needed food supplies coming in, a fatal absence of fuel, interruptions to communications systems and no security for our staff or for the people we serve at food distributions, we cannot do our job People in Gaza are desperate. You can see fear in the eyes of women and children. Gazans are living packed into unhealthy shelters or on the streets as winter closes in, they are sick, and they do not have enough food. During the 7-day pause WFP showed that we can deliver if the conditions allow. We have food on trucks, but we need more than one crossing. And once the trucks are inside, we need free and safe passage to reach Palestinians wherever they are. This will only be possible with a humanitarian ceasefire and ultimately, we need this conflict to end. This statement has been edited for length, please find [the full statement here](. Our Future Begins With Food. With the support of people like you, we can do good better. [DONATE]( [GIVE MONTHLY]( DONOR INQUIRIES (202) 627-3939 | GENERAL INQUIRIES (202) 627-3737 P.O. Box 96316 Washington, DC 20090-6316 | Fax (202) 530-1698 [World Food Program USA.]( [Charity Navigator.]( [Facebook.]( [Instagram.]( [Twitter.]( [LinkedIn.]( Did you find this email informative? [👍]( [👎]( World Food Program USA is a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) public charity (tax ID# 13-3843435) Want hunger updates sent straight to your mobile device? [Subscribe to SMS updates]([!]( 📱 This email was sent to {EMAIL}. You can update your [email preferences]( or [unsubscribe here](.Â