DEIR AL-BALAH: The World Food Program says its food stocks in Gaza have run out under Israel’s nearly 8-week-old blockade, ending a main source of sustenance for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the territory.
The WFP said in a statement that it delivered the last of its stocks to charity kitchens that it supports around Gaza. It said those kitchens are expected to run out of food in the coming days.
Some 80% of Gaza’s population of more than 2 million relies primarily on charity kitchens for food, because other sources have shut down under Israel’s blockade, according to the U.N. The WFP has been supporting 37 kitchens that produced some 500,000 meals a day. It was not immediately clear how many kitchens would still be operating in Gaza if those shut down.
Israel cut off entry of all food, fuel, medicine and other supplies to Gaza on March 2, saying it aimed to pressure Hamas to release hostages it still holds. Rights groups have called the blockade a “starvation tactic” and a potential war crime.
The Hamas-run territory’s health ministry on Friday said at least 78 Palestinians had been killed over the previous 24 hours during the Israeli offensive, a relatively high one-day toll. But Gazans say they are also threatened with death from a lack of food.
Aid agencies in addition to WFP, as well as Western governments, have also voiced alarm. “We are literally dying of hunger,” Tasnim Abu Matar, a resident of Gaza City, said. WFP said that, “For weeks, hot meal kitchens have been the only consistent source of food assistance for people in Gaza. Despite reaching just half the population with only 25 percent of daily food needs, they have
provided a critical lifeline.”