Israel's ongoing blockade of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip has forced a leading aid agency to close its food service centres as they face empty warehouses and no way to replenish supplies in the war-torn region.
In recent weeks, World Central Kitchen has been distributing 133,000 meals a day and baking 80,000 loaves of bread, but said it had been forced to suspend operations because there was little food left to cook in Gaza.
Food shortages pose a threat to Gaza's population, which is already suffering from 19 months of conflict.
In April, the World Food Programme said its food supplies in Gaza had been depleted by Israel's blockade, depriving hundreds of thousands of Palestinians of their main source of food.
Malnutrition and hunger are becoming increasingly common in the Gaza Strip as Israel's total blockade enters its third month.
According to humanitarian organizations, shortages of food and basic necessities have led to famine in the area, and supplies for the treatment and prevention of malnutrition are running low and running out fast.
Israel imposed a blockade on March 2 and then broke a two-month ceasefire by resuming fighting in the area on March 18.
The statement said both moves were aimed at pressuring the Hamas militant group to release hostages still held by the extremists. Human rights groups have called the blockade a “starvation tactic” that threatens the entire population and could be considered a potential war crime.
Food pantries like those run by World Central Kitchen provide meals to hundreds of thousands of people every day, but many are closing due to food shortages.
Those that are still operating often reveal chaotic scenes of desperate men, women and children struggling for meager rations. Bakeries are closed and water supplies have been cut off due to fuel shortages.
World Central Kitchen said it has served more than 130 million meals and baked 80 million loaves of bread since the war began. The organization also announced Thursday that its mobile bakery had run out of flour.
“We have trucks full of food and supplies waiting in Egypt, Jordan and Israel, ready to go to Gaza,” said Jose Andres, a celebrity chef and the organization’s founder. “But they can’t move without permission. Humanitarian aid has to come.”
Israel's defense watchdog Cogat, which oversees aid to Gaza, said the blockade would continue unless the Israeli government changed its policy.
More than 10,000 children have been hospitalized or treated for acute malnutrition since the beginning of the year, according to the World Health Organization.
According to UNICEF, the rise in cases was particularly noticeable in March: 3,600 cases – 80% more than the 2,000 cases in February.
Almost half of the 200 food centres in the Gaza Strip have closed due to displacement and bombing.
Earlier, in April last year, World Central Kitchen suspended its operations after seven aid workers were killed in Israeli attacks on its convoy. The organization resumed operations weeks later.
Also on Thursday, a series of Israeli airstrikes hit hilltops near the southern Lebanese town of Nabatieh, killing at least one person and wounding eight, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.
The Israeli military said it had attacked infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah militants, including weapons depots and tunnel shafts as part of a vast underground network. Israel says Hezbollah's actions at the site violated a November ceasefire.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that government offices in the area were closed after the attacks as families rushed to schools to take their children home.
After a US-brokered ceasefire agreement was reached in November that ended the war between Israel and the
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
