The update comes a day after the UN and its partners issued a statement calling on the international community to pressure Israel to lift impediments to humanitarian aid.
More than a million fed
The WFP has managed to reach more than a million people with boxes of food and wheat flour, Renard said.
Together with UNICEF, the agency is providing more than 300,000 people with preventive nutrition designed to prevent malnutrition and help those who are already malnourished recover.
Additionally, the agency is supporting temporary learning spaces with 190,000 kits served with high-energy cookies and enriched protein bars.
Mr Renard confirmed that people are eating two meals a day on average, compared to one meal a day they were eating in July. The Integrated Food Safety Phase Classification (IPC) will be published on Friday, providing more information on nutritional status.
Access to food “is not enough”
“Access to food alone is not enough,” he said. “Living conditions remain very dire in the Gaza Strip.”
Winter rain and humidity are creating dire circumstances for the vulnerable. Mr. Renard mentioned the example of a mother of five children who lived soaked in a tent.
“That woman was actually saved because she was not in the water because they managed to lift the mattress,” he said.
Meanwhile, most people use garbage and firewood to cook their food.
Overcoming impediments
To provide food, WFP needs to reach further afield, to areas where the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are on the ground, such as Jabalia and Beit Lahia in the north. The agency managed to open a distribution point in Beit Lahia last week.
At the regular UN news conference, deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Wednesday’s statement warned that Israel’s new policies – including a new registration system for international NGOs that is based on “vague and politicized criteria – are undermining aid efforts and risk collapsing the humanitarian response.”