Latest news with #WCK
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opinion: Utah members of Congress, please speak out against the Gaza aid blockade
The Israeli government is again using food as a weapon of war in Gaza. Since March 2, 2025, Israel has imposed a blockade on all humanitarian aid. No food. No medicine. No fuel. No water. One Israeli cabinet minister said this month about Gaza, 'They should starve.' Another said, 'Gaza will be entirely destroyed, civilians will ... leave in great numbers to third countries.' Famine is rearing its ugly head. The U.N.'s World Food Program (WFP) ran out of food in Gaza on April 25. The World Central Kitchen (WCK) has closed down operation in Gaza as of May 8 due to lack of food. Meanwhile, WFP has 116,000 metric tons of food assistance waiting at the borders. WCK also has food trucks waiting in Egypt, Jordan and Israel, ready to enter Gaza. The current situation has reached a breaking point. Sean Carroll, president and chief executive of the nonprofit American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA), writing in The New York Times on May 6, 2025, stated: 'A full-blown humanitarian emergency in Gaza is no longer looming. It is here, and it is catastrophic. It's been more than two months since Israel cut off all humanitarian aid and commercial supplies into Gaza ... Two million Palestinians in Gaza, nearly half of them children, are now surviving on a single meal every two or three days.' In addition, the Netanyahu government recently proposed what Ilan Goldenberg of J Street termed a Gaza 're-occupation plan': 'Netanyahu's plan is to force the entire Palestinian population into smaller and smaller areas of territory ... It will be a human catastrophe first and foremost for families trapped in Gaza — already suffering through bombing, starvation and repeated displacement — but it's a disaster for Israelis as well.' The relatives of Israeli hostages held by Hamas certainly understand how disastrous this plan will be for Israelis. The Hostage and Missing Families Forum that represents the majority of relatives of those held captive in Gaza condemned the plan for 'giving up on the hostages' and 'choosing territory over hostages' against the wishes of the overwhelming majority of Israelis. Former Israeli defense minister and IDF chief of staff Moshe Ya'alon was even more blunt when he called Netanyahu's plan 'a war crime.' How does this relate to Utahns? Senator John Curtis put it this way during the recent Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the nomination of Mike Huckabee to be U.S. Ambassador to Israel: 'Utah has a very special relationship with Israel.' Senator Curtis cited cultural, spiritual and diplomatic reasons for this special relationship and specifically mentioned the BYU-Jerusalem campus. It is precisely because of this special relationship that we speak out today. Friends don't let friends use starvation as a weapon of war. Ninety-six members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter last week to the Israeli ambassador to the U.S. decrying 'some of the worst humanitarian conditions in Gaza since October 2023' and concluding that 'leveraging humanitarian aid to pressure Hamas, as Defense Minister Katz has stated is the Israeli strategy, is unacceptable and constitutes an act of collective punishment against Palestinian civilians in Gaza.' In the U.S. Senate, a separate letter signed by 25 senators said that 'we are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe in the third month of Israel's full blockade of food, water, and medicine into Gaza.' Unfortunately, none of Utah's congressional representatives signed either letter. As Ilan Goldenberg wrote last week, 'Right now, we are still at a crossroads: Restoring the hostage deal and ceasefire framework is still possible — but it will take strong and broad outcry both in Israel and the United States, and a far tougher response from Trump, who will soon visit the region.' We and our organizations are raising the outcry. Will the Utah congressional delegation have the moral clarity and commitment to speak out before it's too late?
Kuwait Times
10-05-2025
- General
- Kuwait Times
Hunger, lack of supplies in Gaza as 105 martyred
GAZA: Dozens of community kitchens in Gaza shut their doors on Thursday due to a lack of supplies, closing off a lifeline used by hundreds of thousands of people in a further blow to efforts to combat growing hunger in the enclave. The move followed hours after the US-based World Central Kitchen (WCK) charity announced that it had run out of the ingredients necessary to provide much-needed free meals and had been prevented by the Zionist entity from bringing in aid. Amjad Al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO) in Gaza, told Reuters that most of the enclave's 170 community kitchens had shut down after running out of stock due to the Zionist entity's continued blockade on Gaza. Shawa said the decision by the WCK, announced late on Wednesday, and the closure of community kitchens on Thursday would cause a drop of between 400,000 to 500,000 free meals per day for the 2.3 million population. 'Everyone in Gaza today is hungry. The world must act now to save the people here,' said Shawa, speaking to Reuters by phone from Gaza. 'The remaining kitchens will be closing soon. The hunger catastrophe is beyond words. People are losing their lone source of food,' Shawa added. Meanwhile, first responders in Gaza said Thursday that their operations were at a near standstill. 'Seventy-five percent of our vehicles have stopped operating due to a lack of diesel fuel,' the civil defense agency's spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP. He added that its teams, who play a critical role as first responders in the Gaza Strip, were also facing a 'severe shortage of electricity generators and oxygen devices'. Those Gazans trying to cook independently meanwhile complain that flour still available on the market is contaminated. 'The flour is full of mites and sand ... We sieve it three, four times, instead of once, so we can bake it,' said Mohammad Abu Ayesh, a displaced father of nine from northern Gaza.'We don't want to eat from it, but we feed the children, for the children. You can't tolerate its smell, cattle and animals would not eat it, we are forced to eat it against our will, we are helpless,' he told Reuters. On Thursday, the Gaza health ministry said Zionist military strikes across the enclave killed at least 105 people in the past 24 hours, in one of the biggest death tolls in a single day in two months. It added that more than 52,700 people have been killed by the Zionist entity since the war began on Oct 7, 2023. Senior civil defense official Mohammad Mughayyir told AFP that Zionist bombardment across Gaza on Thursday killed 21 people, including nine in a strike that targeted the Abu Rayyan family home in the northern city of Beit Lahia. In Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian woman Huda Abu Diyya has just returned from a visit to a community kitchen where she received what the owners told her would be her family's last meal. 'If it weren't for the community kitchen, we would have died. For the sake of our children, what shall we do? ... What should I feed them tomorrow?' the woman told Reuters. 'Nothing is available here. Everything became so expensive, we have nothing here. The situation is below zero. A bit more like this and we will die of hunger,' she added. Two weeks ago most of the population relied on one and a half meals per day, but in the past few days that has dropped to one meal a day, and even that will lack meat, vegetables or the necessary healthy components, said Shawa. 'The free meals are usually rice or lentils, that is now also at risk of being suspended within the next week. I am afraid that we may begin to witness deaths among elderly, vulnerable children, pregnant women, and the ill,' said Shawa. 'It is unacceptable that humanitarian aid is not allowed into the Gaza Strip,' Pierre Krahenbuhl, director general of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), told reporters in Geneva Thursday. The situation in Gaza is on a 'razor's edge' and 'the next few days are absolutely decisive', he added. The UN's agency for children, UNICEF, warned that Gaza's children face 'a growing risk of starvation, illness and death' after UN-supported kitchens shut down due to lack of food supplies. Over 20 independent experts mandated by the UN's Human Rights Council demanded action on Wednesday to avert the 'annihilation' of Palestinians in Gaza. On Thursday, Palestinians waited in line to donate blood at a field hospital in Gaza's southern city of Khan Yunis, an AFP journalist reported. 'In these difficult circumstances, we have come to support the injured and sick, amid severe food shortages and a lack of proteins, by donating blood', Moamen Al-Eid, a Palestinian waiting in the line, told AFP. Hind Joba, the hospital's laboratory head, said that 'there is no food or drink, the crossings are closed, and there is no access to nutritious or protein-rich food'. 'Still, people responded to the call, fulfilling their humanitarian duty by donating blood' despite the toll on their own bodies, she added. 'But this blood is vital, and they know that every drop helps save the life of an injured person.' – Agencies
AsiaOne
09-05-2025
- General
- AsiaOne
Dozens of Gaza communal kitchens shut as supply runs out, worsening hunger, World News
CAIRO/GAZA — Dozens of community kitchens in Gaza shut their doors on Thursday (May 8) due to a lack of supplies, closing off a lifeline used by hundreds of thousands of people in a further blow to efforts to combat growing hunger in the enclave. The move followed hours after the US-based World Central Kitchen (WCK) charity announced that it had run out of the ingredients necessary to provide much-needed free meals and had been prevented by Israel from bringing in aid. Amjad al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organisations Network (PNGO) in Gaza, told Reuters that most of the enclave's 170 community kitchens had shut down after running out of stock due to Israel's continued blockade on Gaza. Shawa said the decision by the WCK, announced late on Wednesday, and the closure of community kitchens on Thursday would cause a drop of between 400,000 to 500,000 free meals per day for the 2.3 million population. "Everyone in Gaza today is hungry. The world must act now to save the people here," said Shawa, speaking to Reuters by phone from Gaza. "The remaining kitchens will be closing soon. The hunger catastrophe is beyond words. People are losing their lone source of food," Shawa added. Those Gazans trying to cook independently meanwhile complain that flour still available on the market is contaminated. "The flour is full of mites and sand ... We sieve it three, four times, instead of once, so we can bake it," said Mohammad Abu Ayesh, a displaced father of nine from northern Gaza. 'We are helpless' On Thursday, the Gaza health ministry said Israeli military strikes across the enclave killed at least 105 people in the past 24 hours, in one of the biggest death tolls in a single day in two months. It added that more than 52,700 people have been killed by Israel since the war began on Oct 7, 2023. The war began when Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. "We don't want to eat from it, but we feed the children, for the children. You can't tolerate its smell, cattle and animals would not eat it, we are forced to eat it against our will, we are helpless," he told Reuters. Israel has faced growing international pressure to lift an aid blockade that it imposed in March after the collapse of a US-backed ceasefire that had halted fighting for two months. Israel has accused agencies, including the United Nations, of allowing large quantities of aid to fall into the hands of Hamas militants, who it accuses of seizing supplies intended for civilians and using them for their own forces. Hamas denies the allegation and accuses Israel of using starvation as a weapon against the population, most of whom have been displaced at least once during the 19-month-old conflict. In Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian woman Huda Abu Diyya has just returned from a visit to a community kitchen where she received what the owners told her would be her family's last meal. "If it weren't for the community kitchen, we would have died. For the sake of our children, what shall we do? ... What should I feed them tomorrow?" the woman told Reuters. 'We will die of hunger' "Nothing is available here. Everything became so expensive, we have nothing here. The situation is below zero. A bit more like this and we will die of hunger," she added. Two weeks ago most of the population relied on one and a half meals per day, but in the past few days that has dropped to one meal a day, and even that will lack meat, vegetables or the necessary healthy components, said Shawa. "The free meals are usually rice or lentils, that is now also at risk of being suspended within the next week. I am afraid that we may begin to witness deaths among elderly, vulnerable children, pregnant women, and the ill," said Shawa. Growing looting of community kitchens, stores of local merchants, and UN headquarters have prompted Hamas security forces to crack down on local gangs. Hamas executed at least six gang members last week, according to sources close to the group. UN humanitarian agency OCHA has said more than 2 million people — most of Gaza's population — face severe food shortages. Food has dried up in Gaza markets, and prices have risen beyond the means of the vast majority. Flour sells at around US$500 (S$650) for a 25kg sack, compared with $7 in the past. [[nid:717801]]
Business Recorder
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Business Recorder
Dozens of Gaza communal kitchens shut as supply runs out
CAIRO/GAZA: Dozens of community kitchens in Gaza shut their doors on Thursday due to a lack of supplies, closing off a lifeline used by hundreds of thousands of people in a further blow to efforts to combat growing hunger in the enclave. The move followed hours after the US-based World Central Kitchen (WCK) charity announced that it had run out of the ingredients necessary to provide much-needed free meals and had been prevented by Israel from bringing in aid. Amjad al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO) in Gaza, told Reuters that most of the enclave's 170 community kitchens had shut down after running out of stock due to Israel's continued blockade on Gaza. Shawa said the decision by the WCK, announced late on Wednesday, and the closure of community kitchens on Thursday would cause a drop of between 400,000 to 500,000 free meals per day for the 2.3 million population. 'Everyone in Gaza today is hungry. The world must act now to save the people here,' said Shawa, speaking to Reuters by phone from Gaza. 'The remaining kitchens will be closing soon. The hunger catastrophe is beyond words. People are losing their lone source of food,' Shawa added. Those Gazans trying to cook independently meanwhile complain that flour still available on the market is contaminated. 'The flour is full of mites and sand ... We sieve it three, four times, instead of once, so we can bake it,' said Mohammad Abu Ayesh, a displaced father of nine from northern Gaza. On Thursday, the Gaza health ministry said Israeli military strikes across the enclave killed at least 105 people in the past 24 hours, in one of the biggest death tolls in a single day in two months. It added that more than 52,700 people have been killed by Israel since the war began on October 7, 2023. The war began when Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Japan Today
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Japan Today
Dozens of Gaza communal kitchens shut as supply runs out, worsening hunger
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Mahmoud Issa Dozens of community kitchens in Gaza shut their doors on Thursday due to a lack of supplies, closing off a lifeline used by hundreds of thousands of people in a further blow to efforts to combat growing hunger in the enclave. The move followed hours after the U.S.-based World Central Kitchen (WCK) charity announced that it had run out of the ingredients necessary to provide much-needed free meals and had been prevented by Israel from bringing in aid. Amjad al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO) in Gaza, told Reuters that most of the enclave's 170 community kitchens had shut down after running out of stock due to Israel's continued blockade on Gaza. Shawa said the decision by the WCK, announced late on Wednesday, and the closure of community kitchens on Thursday would cause a drop of between 400,000 to 500,000 free meals per day for the 2.3 million population. "Everyone in Gaza today is hungry. The world must act now to save the people here," said Shawa, speaking to Reuters by phone from Gaza. "The remaining kitchens will be closing soon. The hunger catastrophe is beyond words. People are losing their lone source of food," Shawa added. Those Gazans trying to cook independently meanwhile complain that flour still available on the market is contaminated. "The flour is full of mites and sand ... We sieve it three, four times, instead of once, so we can bake it," said Mohammad Abu Ayesh, a displaced father of nine from northern Gaza. On Thursday, the Gaza health ministry said Israeli military strikes across the enclave killed at least 105 people in the past 24 hours, in one of the biggest death tolls in a single day in two months. It added that more than 52,700 people have been killed by Israel since the war began on October 7, 2023. The war began when Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. "We don't want to eat from it, but we feed the children, for the children. You can't tolerate its smell, cattle and animals would not eat it, we are forced to eat it against our will, we are helpless,' he told Reuters. Israel has faced growing international pressure to lift an aid blockade that it imposed in March after the collapse of a U.S.-backed ceasefire that had halted fighting for two months. Israel has accused agencies, including the United Nations, of allowing large quantities of aid to fall into the hands of Hamas militants, who it accuses of seizing supplies intended for civilians and using them for their own forces. Hamas denies the allegation and accuses Israel of using starvation as a weapon against the population, most of whom have been displaced at least once during the 19-month-old conflict. In Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian woman Huda Abu Diyya has just returned from a visit to a community kitchen where she received what the owners told her would be her family's last meal. "If it weren't for the community kitchen, we would have died. For the sake of our children, what shall we do? ... What should I feed them tomorrow?" the woman told Reuters. "Nothing is available here. Everything became so expensive, we have nothing here. The situation is below zero. A bit more like this and we will die of hunger," she added. Two weeks ago most of the population relied on one and a half meals per day, but in the past few days that has dropped to one meal a day, and even that will lack meat, vegetables or the necessary healthy components, said Shawa. "The free meals are usually rice or lentils, that is now also at risk of being suspended within the next week. I am afraid that we may begin to witness deaths among elderly, vulnerable children, pregnant women, and the ill," said Shawa. Growing looting of community kitchens, stores of local merchants, and U.N. headquarters have prompted Hamas security forces to crack down on local gangs. Hamas executed at least six gang members last week, according to sources close to the group. U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA has said more than 2 million people - most of Gaza's population - face severe food shortages. Food has dried up in Gaza markets, and prices have risen beyond the means of the vast majority. Flour sells at around $500 for a 25 kg sack, compared with $7 in the past. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
