The World Food Programme has run out of food, the United Nations agency said Friday, 54 days after Israel imposed a complete blockade on the Gaza Strip.
“Today, WFP delivered its last remaining food stocks to hot meals kitchens in the Gaza Strip. These kitchens are expected to fully run out of food in the coming days,” it said in a statement on Friday.
Since Israel imposed its blockade on March 2, stopping the entry of humanitarian aid and commercial goods into the enclave, WFP has been the only steady source and the largest provider of hot meals in Gaza.
Only a few smaller agencies are still providing food in Gaza, including the World Central Kitchen, which said in a post on Facebook Saturday that it was “working nonstop to stretch flour supplies and bake as much bread as possible” inside its bakery, the last one still operating in Gaza.
With all border crossings closed, no humanitarian or commercial supplies, including more than 116,000 tons of food from WFP waiting at aid corridors, have entered Gaza in more than seven weeks, the aid agency said.
“This is the longest closure the Gaza Strip has ever faced, exacerbating already fragile markets and food systems,” it said, adding, “People are running out of ways to cope, and the fragile gains made during the short ceasefire have unravelled.”
The news comes after WFP in late March said that all of its 25 bakeries in the Gaza Strip had shut down because of the lack of fuel and flour in the territory.
Israel says its blockade is crucial to its goal of weakening the militant group’s control over the population, while Israeli officials have repeatedly stated there is “no shortage” of aid in Gaza and accused Hamas of withholding supplies.
After a meeting at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate with senior Republican Party officials, Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on X Wednesday that, “They expressed support for my very clear position on how to act in Gaza and that the food and aid depots should be bombed in order to create military and political pressure to return our hostages home safely.”
The Israeli government has been accused of using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in the Gaza Strip, which the UN said could amount to war crimes under international humanitarian law.
With essential food commodities including safe water and cooking fuel in short supply, more than 2 million people in Gaza now face an acute risk of starvation, epidemic disease, and death, WFP warned.
The extreme food insecurity has also raised serious nutrition concerns for vulnerable populations, including children under the age of five, pregnant women, and the elderly.
The Global Nutrition Cluster, a coalition of humanitarian groups, warned that in March alone, 3,708 children were identified for acute malnutrition, out of 84,000 children screened — a marked increase from February, when 2,053 children were admitted from a total of 92,000 screened, OCHA said in a report on Thursday.
Video footage posted by WFP showed depleted stocks of food supply in a warehouse in Gaza, and children lining up at food stands to receive hot meals and bread. The agency said that despite providing a “critical lifeline” to those in need, it had reached just half the population in Gaza.
With food prices inside the strip also skyrocketing to 1,400% compared to during the ceasefire, people are now being forced to scavenge for items to burn to cook a meal, the WFP said.
More than 51,000 people have been killed in Gaza, including thousands of children, according to the local health ministry, since Israel launched its offensive in the enclave following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks.
Some 1,200 people were killed during the attacks in southern Israel and around 250 taken hostage, marking a major escalation in a decadeslong conflict.
The situation has raised widespread concerns among international NGOs and UN agencies working in Gaza, with the CEOs of 12 major aid organisations in mid-April warning of aid systems collapsing as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza reached the worst levels in 18 months.
“Famine is not just a risk, but likely rapidly unfolding in almost all parts of Gaza,” the CEOs said in a statement posted by Oxfam, adding, “Let us do our jobs.”
On Thursday, the foreign ministers of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom also urged Israel to restart the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. “Palestinian civilians — including one million children — face an acute risk of starvation, epidemic disease and death. This must end,” they said in a statement.
They added, “We urge Israel to immediately re-start a rapid and unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza in order to meet the needs of all civilians.”
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