World Central Kitchen halts operations in Gaza

WCK, which has been significantly involved in providing food to Gaza’s residents since the onset of the war, issued a statement on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), stating that the organization can no longer continue distributing or preparing meals for Gaza’s besieged Palestinian residents due to exhausted food reserves, a lack of fuel for cooking or baking, and the ongoing blockade.

According to Al Jazeera, WCK emphasized that continuing its operations is impossible without permission from Israel to allow aid deliveries.

Over the past 18 months, WCK has distributed over 130 million meals and 26 million loaves of bread in Gaza but has been unable to replenish its supplies since the closure of border crossings in early March.

The international organization reported that more than 80% of its supported local kitchens are now out of food and fuel. In recent weeks, WCK has resorted to using alternative fuels like compressed wood and olive pits to sustain operations and modified recipes to conserve fuel. However, even its mobile bakery currently has no flour to bake bread.

WCK noted that trucks carrying food and fuel have been stalled at Gaza’s border since March, while additional aid from Jordan and Egypt awaits transport.

The organization warned that without permission from the Israeli regime to allow these aid shipments, its critical operations will come to a complete halt and cease providing services.

Reports indicate that since the closure of the crossings, the hunger crisis in Gaza has reached catastrophic levels, with official statistics confirming that at least 57 people, mostly children, have died due to starvation.