World News in Brief: Gaza aid crisis latest, deadly floods in India and Pakistan, funding cuts exacerbate Somalia drought

In an alert from the World Food Programme (WFP), the agency said that half a million people “are on the brink of famine”, a claim backed up by multiple humanitarian agencies. The latest worrying data is showing widespread acute malnutrition.

A ceasefire is the only way to scale up aid deliveries, the UN agency insisted. It explained that although teams are doing everything they can to deliver food assistance, only 47 per cent of the daily target amount is getting in.

No meals, no bread

Unless the fighting stops, organized aid distributions and WFP-supported hot meals and bakeries can’t restart, the agency stated.

The UN relief agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, reported on Monday that instead of being able to prepare for the start of a new school year, children in Gaza are instead searching for water and queuing for food while their classrooms have “turned into crowded refuges”.

Three years of schooling has now been lost, the agency stressed in a tweet.

UN chief expresses ‘deep sorrow’ over deadly flash floods in India and Pakistan

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday expressed his deep sorrow at the tragic loss of life due to flash floods in India and Pakistan in recent days, with many still missing and forecasts showing the possibility of further flooding and landslides ahead.

Indian rescue services responded to a deadly flood on Friday which reportedly killed at least 60 after it crashed through a village in the Himalayas while in remote villages of northwestern Pakistan, torrents of water killed more than 300, according to news reports.

Hundreds were also injured, Pakistani authorities reported. Buner district was the worst hit, with more than 200 deaths reported there, said the provincial disaster management authorities.

Standing in solidarity

“The Secretary-General offers his sincere condolences to the victims’ families and stands in solidarity with those affected by this disaster,” said the statement issued by his Spokesperson.

UN country teams in India and Pakistan have also been placed are at the disposal of authorities although no request for assistance has been made so far.

Impacts of Somalia drought made worse by funding cuts: OCHA

In Somalia, severe drought and funding cuts are undermining lifesaving assistance there, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said on Monday.

Because of the reduction in the amount of support for aid work, food assistance has declined, health centres are closing and malnutrition is high, the UN agency warned.

OCHA said that 4.6 million people now face high levels of food insecurity while two million more are at risk from funding cuts.

Funding cuts mean ‘lives lost’

Without scaled-up support, “lives will be lost and progress reversed” across the east African nation, where cash shortfalls have left one million people without food assistance every month.

The global trend seeing less humanitarian assistance has curtailed vital support for healthcare across Somalia. So far this year, it has impacted at least 150 medical facilities and left hundreds of thousands of Somalis without the medical care they need.

OCHA noted that because of the cuts, the number of people being targeted for assistance in Somalia has had to be reduced by a staggering 72 per cent.