DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza (AP) — Israel’s ongoing blockade of humanitarian assistance for Gaza forced a leading aid group to shut its community soup kitchens Thursday as it faced 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 no food left in Gaza for the organization to cook.
The lack of food is threatening Gaza's population, already battered by 19 months of war. In April, the World Food Program 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.
Shortages due to blockade drive hunger, malnutrition
Malnutrition and hunger are becoming increasingly prevalent in the Gaza Strip as Israel’s total blockade enters its third month, and aid agencies say supplies to treat and prevent malnutrition are depleted and quickly running out.
Israel imposed the blockade on March 2, then shattered a two-month ceasefire by resuming military operations in the territory on March 18. 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 say it is a potential war crime.
Community kitchens such as the ones run by World Central Kitchen are often the only way for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza to eat a daily meal.
But a third of the communal kitchens supported by the U.N. have closed in the past 10 days for lack of food or fuel, the U.N. humanitarian office, or OCHA, said. It warned that number will plunge further in the coming days because of more imminent closures.
“The hot meals provided by these kitchens constitute one of the last remaining lifelines” for Palestinians, OCHA said.
At those still open, chaotic scenes of desperate men, women and children fighting to get meager rations are common. Bakeries have closed, while water distribution is grinding to a halt due to lack of fuel.
Aid is waiting on the borders
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 organization also said on Thursday 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 José Andrés, the celebrity chef who founded the organization. “But they cannot move without permission. Humanitarian aid must be allowed to flow.”
COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing aid to Gaza, said the blockade would continue unless the Israeli government changed its policy.
‘Hamas is engineering hunger’
Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said the government was concerned that Hamas has control of humanitarian aid, and that Israeli officials are “actively exploring mechanisms" to get aid only to “those in need and not Hamas.”
“It’s very, very important to remember that it is hunger which is engineered by Hamas,” Mencer said. Israel will remove the blockade when Hamas lays down its weapons, he said.
Since the start of the year, more than 10,000 children have been admitted or treated for acute malnutrition, according to the World Health Organization. The increase was particularly dramatic in March, with 3,600 cases — an 80% increase, compared to the 2,000 children in February, UNICEF reported.
Nearly half the 200 nutrition centers 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.
Toll in Gaza continues to rise
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said Thursday the bodies of 106 people killed by Israeli strikes have been brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours.
Hospitals also received 367 wounded, the ministry said in its daily report.
The overall Palestinian death toll from the Israel-Hamas war rose to at least 52,760 since Oct. 7, 2023, the ministry said. Another 119,264 have been wounded, it said.
It said the tally includes 2,651 dead and 7,223 wounded since Israel resumed the war on March 18, shattering the ceasefire after nearly two-month hiatus.
The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but says more than half of the dead were women and children.
The Israeli military said they are targeting Hamas infrastructure in Gaza. On Wednesday, chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir told commanders Israel was about to enter phase 2 of operations in Gaza, where Israel plans to "expand and intensify our operations.
1 killed, 8 injured in Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon
Also on Thursday, a series of Israeli airstrikes hit hilltops in the vicinity of the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh, killing at least one person and wounding eight others, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
The Israeli military said it bombed infrastructure that belonged to the Hezbollah militant group and included weapons and tunnels. Israel said that Hezbollah's activities at the site violated a November ceasefire.
Hezbollah did not immediately comment on the strikes. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said public institutions in the area were closed after the attacks as families rushed to schools to take their children home.
Since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in November stopped the war between Israel and Hezbollah, Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon have continued. Hezbollah says its has largely disarmed south of the Litani River, while Israel insists the militants are rearming themselves. Some 4,000 people in Lebanon were killed during the war, including many civilians.
Journalist from Jenin detained for six months
A renowned Palestinian journalist arrested by the Israeli military and suffering from multiple chronic illnesses has been placed on six months of administrative detention, the Israeli military said.
Ali Samoudi, who has worked for international news outlets including CNN and Al Jazeera, was detained late last month by the Israeli military from his family home in the city of Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and has spent part of the time in the hospital due to chronic health issues.
The Israeli military said Samoudi was detained based on involvement in “actions endangering regional security" but that a police investigation did not find sufficient evidence against him to issue an arrest. However, on Thursday, a military court decided to place him under administrative detention for six months.
Israeli authorities can renew administrative detentions indefinitely. Detainees are held without charge or trial. Israel says the controversial tactic is necessary to contain dangerous militants and avoid divulging incriminating material for security reasons. But Palestinians and rights groups say the system denies due process and is widely abused.
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Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.
Wafaa Shurafa And Kareem Chehayeb, The Associated Press
