WFP food stocks in Gaza gone as Israeli blockade continues
April 25 (UPI) -- The United Nations World Food Program announced Friday that all of its food stocks for families in Gaza have run out.
"Today, WFP delivered its last remaining food stocks to hot meals kitchens in the Gaza Strip," the program wrote in a press release, "These kitchens are expected to fully run out of food in the coming days."
WFP then stated that the kitchens have served as the "the only consistent source of food assistance for people in Gaza," and added "WFP has also supported bakeries to distribute affordable bread in Gaza," but that all 25 WFP-supported bakeries closed," in March "as wheat flour and cooking fuel ran out."
As the Israel-Hamas conflict has continued, Israel has maintained a blockade, which has stopped all humanitarian or commercial supplies into Gaza for over seven weeks, with all main border crossing points closed.
Over 127,000 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," WFP explained.
WFP said this is the longest closure ever imposed on the Gaza Strip, which has driven food prices up 1,400% when compared to during the cease-fire, and in combination with the end of its food stocks, it especially impacts "vulnerable populations, including children under five, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and the elderly."
The organization has concluded that the "situation inside the Gaza Strip has once again reached a breaking point," and unless "urgent action to open borders for aid and trade to enter," is made, WFP may have to pull out.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Yahoo
Former Gaza hostage Eli Sharabi discusses details of captivity in new memoir
Eli Sharabi, a former Gaza hostage, shares his story of survival, grief, and resilience after captivity and the loss of his family, revealing previously untold struggles. Former Gaza hostage Eli Sharabi revealed new details about his experience in Hamas captivity in an interview with N12 on Friday, where he discussed the publication of his memoir 'Hostage.' The last time Sharabi was seen in public, he was emaciated and weighed a mere 44 kilograms. "I look better, I feel better. I gained 16 kilos in four months. That's a lot," he told N12. In the interview, Sharabi discussed how grief and trauma fit into his life, stating that he has no flashbacks or nightmares, which psychologists could not explain. "They haven't seen cases oftrauma this severe. And I really did go through multi-trauma: captivity, and also an enormous, enormous loss of my wife and daughters. It's something they can't explain." He spoke about his daughters and wife, explaining that he thought they were still alive when he was released. "When I came back and hear that they were murdered five minutes after I was kidnapped, I can't understand the situation and I demand answers.' he continued that "I want to see them, I want to hug them, I want to draw strength from them, I want to show them that I'm okay, that I'm no longer a poster.' In his book, he wrote that he told the other hostages he was with to focus on the positives every day. "That's the clearest and most natural thing that should happen to us there. It gives us hope and strength,' he told N12. Sharabi discussed how he and the hostages he was with, Alon Ohel, Eli-He Cohen and Or Levi, fought during their captivity. "There are definitely frictions, arguments, and difficult situations, hunger, the fear that you won't survive, and that sometimes brings you to unwanted behaviors,' he said, adding that the fights were mostly over food. "It's the resource that, at least in your eyes, feels the most essential for survival. Every crumb you get into your mouth makes you feel better and that you'll survive better in the future." He discussed the feeling of being handed an Israeli flag upon his release, and spoke about how he chose to wrap it around himself. "For me, it was the most natural and obvious thing to do when I got off the helicopter. I didn't think in that moment what it would do or how it would be perceived. You're waiting, you miss Israeli-ness so, so much,' he said.
New York Times
a day ago
- New York Times
Parents in Gaza Are Running Out of Ways to Feed Their Children: ‘All We Want Is a Loaf of Bread'
It had made sense to Nour Barda and Heba al-Arqan in November 2023 to try for another baby when a temporary truce had just taken hold in Gaza. Mr. Barda's father, who had only sons, kept asking when he might have a granddaughter at last. Back then, the war seemed like it might end. Back then, there was food, even if it was not enough. By the time Ms. al-Arqan found out she was pregnant last year, things in Gaza were much worse. When she gave birth to Shadia this April, there was so little to eat that Ms. al-Arqan, 25, had almost no milk to give. Now she holds Shadia at her breast just to calm her down, Mr. Barda said, knowing that nothing is likely to come. It had been like this with Jihad, their son, who was born in 2023, two weeks after the war began. Their increasingly desperate efforts to find food when Jihad was six months old were described in a New York Times article about malnourished children in Gaza in April 2024. But now she and her husband had two babies to keep alive at a time when Israel had blocked almost all aid from entering Gaza for nearly three months — 80 days of total siege beginning in March. Israel began to ease the blockade in May, but only a thin trickle of supplies has arrived. The traditional United Nations-run system for delivering aid has faltered as looters and fighting have cut off safe routes for aid trucks, and a new, Israeli-backed aid distribution system has descended into controversy, chaos and violence. Though the group behind it says it has delivered nearly nine million meals so far, the United Nations says the assistance falls far short of what is needed for a population of two million people. Security at the new distribution sites is being provided by private American contractors, but the Israeli military is stationing forces nearby, outside the perimeter. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Without meat, families in Gaza struggle to celebrate Islam's Eid al-Adha holiday
MUWASI, Gaza Strip (AP) — With the Gaza Strip devastated by war and siege, Palestinians struggled Thursday to celebrate one of the most important Islamic holidays. To mark Eid al-Adha — Arabic for the Festival of Sacrifice — Muslims traditionally slaughter a sheep or cow and give away part of the meat to the poor as an act of charity. Then they have a big family meal with sweets. Children get gifts of new clothes. But no fresh meat has entered Gaza for three months. Israel has blocked shipments of food and other aid to pressure Hamas to release hostages taken in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that started the war. And nearly all the territory's homegrown sheep, cattle and goats are dead after 20 months of Israeli bombardment and ground offensives. Some of the little livestock left was on sale at a makeshift pen set up in the vast tent camp of Muwasi in the southern part of Gaza's Mediterranean coast. But no one could afford to buy. A few people came to look at the sheep and goats, along with a cow and a camel. Some kids laughed watching the animals and called out the prayers connected to the holiday. 'I can't even buy bread. No meat, no vegetables,' said Abdel Rahman Madi. 'The prices are astronomical.' The Eid commemorates the test of faith of the Prophet Ibrahim — Abraham in the Bible — and his willingness to sacrifice his son as an act of submission to God. The day is usually one of joy for children — and a day when businesses boom a bit as people buy up food and gifts. But prices for everything have soared amid the blockade, which was only slightly eased two weeks ago. Meat and most fresh fruits and vegetables disappeared from the markets weeks ago. At a street market in the nearby city of Khan Younis, some stalls had stuffed sheep toys and other holiday knickknacks and old clothes. But most people left without buying any gifts after seeing the prices. 'Before, there was an Eid atmosphere, the children were happy … Now with the blockade, there's no flour, no clothes, no joy,' said Hala Abu Nqeira, a woman looking through the market. 'We just go to find flour for our children. We go out every day looking for flour at a reasonable price, but we find it at unbelievable prices.' Israel's campaign against Hamas has almost entirely destroyed Gaza's ability to feed itself. The U.N. says 96% of the livestock and 99% of the poultry are dead. More than 95% of Gaza's prewar cropland is unusable, either too damaged or inaccessible inside Israeli military zones, according to a land survey published this week by the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization. Israel barred all food and other supplies from entering Gaza for more than two months. It eased the blockade two weeks ago to allow a trickle of aid trucks in for the U.N. to distribute. The trucks have brought in some food items, mainly flour. But the U.N. says it has struggled to delivery much of the incoming aid because of looting or Israeli military restrictions. Almost the entire population of more than 2 million people have been driven from their homes, and most have had to move multiple times to escape Israeli offensives. Rasha Abu Souleyma said she recently slipped back to her home in Rafah — from which her family had fled to take refuge in Khan Younis — to find some possessions she'd left behind. She came back with some clothes, pink plastic sunglasses and bracelets that she gave to her two daughters as Eid gifts. 'I can't buy them clothes or anything,' the 38-year-old said. 'I used to bring meat in Eid so they would be happy, but now we can't bring meat, and I can't even feed the girls with bread.' Near her, a group of children played on makeshift swings made of knotted and looped ropes. Karima Nejelli, a displaced woman from Rafah, pointed out that people in Gaza had now marked both Eid al-Adha and the other main Islamic holiday, Eid al-Fitr, two times each under the war. 'During these four Eids, we as Palestinians did not see any kind of joy, no sacrifice, no cookies, no buying Eid clothes or anything.' ___ Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Mohammad Jahjouh And Kareem Chehayeb, The Associated Press
