Dozens of soup kitchens shuttered their doors in on Thursday as supplies ran out in the enclave, devastated by and a two-month total Israeli blockade.
The US-based World Central Kitchen (WCK) announced that it had run out of the ingredients necessary to provide its free meals, adding that Israel had prevented it from bringing in much-needed aid.
“Our trucks — loaded with food and supplies — are waiting in Egypt, Jordan and Israel, ready to enter Gaza,” said Jose Andres, the celebrity chef who founded the organization. “But they cannot move without permission. Humanitarian aid must be allowed to flow.”
Amjad al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO) in Gaza, told the Reuters news agency that most of the enclave’s 170 soup kitchens had shut down after running out of stock due to Israel’s continued blockade.
“Everyone in Gaza today is hungry. The world must act now to save the people here,” Shawa told news agency Reuters over the phone.
He estimated that the closure of soup kitchens would lead to a drop of some 400,000 to 500,000 desperately needed free meals per day. “The remaining kitchens will be closing soon. The hunger catastrophe is beyond words. People are losing their lone source of food.”
UN humanitarian agency OCHA said more than 2 million people, most of Gaza’s population of roughly 2.3 million, face severe food shortages.
Israel imposed its total blockade on Gaza in March, saying it aimed to pressure the militant group to release the remaining Israeli hostages.
Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist group in several countries, took some 250 hostages when it carried out the October 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel, which killed 1,200 people.
Israel’s consequent war on Gaza has killed more than 52,600 Palestinians, according to figures from the health authorities in the Hamas-run enclave regarded as reliable by international organizations.
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