Leading aid group shuts down soup kitchens in Gaza over Israel's blockade

Israel’s ongoing blockade of forced a leading aid group to shut its community soup kitchens on Thursday, faced with empty warehouses and no replenishment of supplies in the war-battered enclave.

World Central Kitchen was serving 133,000 meals per day and baking 80,000 loaves of bread over the past weeks, but said it was forced to suspend operations since there is almost for the organisation to cook.

The lack of food is threatening Gaza’s population, already battered by 19 months of war. In April, the World Food Programme said its food stocks in Gaza had run out under Israel’s blockade, ending a main source of sustenance for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the territory.

Malnutrition and hunger are becoming increasingly prevalent in the Gaza Strip as Israel’s total blockade enters its third month. Aid agencies say a shortage of food and supplies has driven the territory toward starvation and supplies to treat and prevent malnutrition are depleted and quickly running out.

Israel imposed the blockade on 2 March, then shattered a two-month ceasefire by resuming military operations in the territory on 18 March. It said both steps aim to pressure the militant Hamas group to release hostages the extremists still hold. Rights groups call the blockade a “starvation tactic” that endangers the entire population and is a potential war crime.

Community kitchens such as the ones run by World Central Kitchen are a lifeline for hundreds of thousands for their daily meal, but many are shutting down due to a lack of supplies.

At those still open, chaotic scenes of desperate men, women, and fighting to get meagre rations are common. Bakeries have closed, while water distribution is grinding to a halt due to a lack of fuel.

Since the start of the war, World Central Kitchen said it has served more than 130 million meals and baked 80 million loaves of bread. The organisation also said on Thursday that there was no flour left in their mobile bakery.

“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 organisation. “But they cannot move without permission. Humanitarian aid must be allowed to flow.”

COGAT, the Israeli defence body overseeing aid to Gaza, said the blockade would continue unless the Israeli government changed its policy.

Since the start of the year, more than 10,000 children have been admitted or treated for acute malnutrition, according to the World Health Organisation. The increase was particularly dramatic in March, with 3,600 cases — an 80 per cent increase, compared to the 2,000 children in February, UNICEF reported.

Nearly half of the 200 nutrition centres around Gaza have shut down because of displacement and bombardment.

World Central Kitchen had previously suspended operations in April of last year after seven aid workers were killed in Israeli strikes on their convoy, before resuming weeks later.