GAZA, Palestine – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has depleted all its food stocks for families in Gaza.
[Today,] WFP delivered its last remaining food stocks to hot meals kitchens in the Gaza Strip. These kitchens are expected to fully run out of food in the coming days. 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.
WFP has also supported bakeries to distribute affordable bread in Gaza. On March 31, all 25 WFP-supported bakeries closed as wheat flour and cooking fuel ran out. The same week, WFP food parcels distributed to families – with two weeks of food rations – were exhausted. WFP is also deeply concerned about the severe lack of safe water and fuel for cooking – forcing people to scavenge for items to burn to cook a meal.
No humanitarian or commercial supplies have entered Gaza for more than seven weeks as all main border crossing points remain closed. This is the longest closure the Gaza Strip has ever faced, exacerbating already fragile markets and food systems. Food prices have skyrocketed up to 1,400 percent compared to during the ceasefire, and essential food commodities are in short supply raising serious nutrition concerns for vulnerable populations, including children under five, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and the elderly.
More than 116,000 metric tons of food assistance – enough to feed one million people for up to four months – is positioned at aid corridors and is ready to be brought into Gaza by WFP and food security partners as soon as borders reopen.
The situation inside the Gaza Strip has once again reached a breaking point: people are running out of ways to cope, and the fragile gains made during the short ceasefire have unravelled. Without urgent action to open borders for aid and trade to enter, WFP’s critical assistance may be forced to end.
WFP urges all parties to prioritize the needs of civilians and allow aid to enter Gaza immediately and uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law.
