In a stark reminder of Gaza's deepening humanitarian crisis, World Central Kitchen (WCK) announced Wednesday it will pause its cooking and baking operations in the Gaza Strip due to critical supply shortages.
After serving more than 130 million meals and baking 26 million loaves of bread over the past 18 months, the Washington, D.C.-headquartered charity says it no longer has the ingredients to prepare daily meals for hundreds of thousands of residents.
Since the closure of border crossings in early March, WCK has been unable to replenish stocks in its large-scale field kitchens or in its mobile bakery, which has now run out of flour. More than 80 percent of community kitchens in Gaza have exhausted their WCK-provided supplies.
Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network in Gaza, warns that shutting down community kitchens could worsen severe hunger, especially among children, women, the elderly and the sick.
'If all parties do not intervene by opening the crossings and allowing humanitarian and medical aid to enter, we will face an extremely dangerous situation in Gaza,' Shawa said.
The suspension follows Israel’s halt of goods and supplies into Gaza on March 2, after the first phase of a January ceasefire agreement expired. The United Nations has issued warnings of an impending humanitarian catastrophe, with acute hunger spreading rapidly among the population.
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World Central Kitchen to pause Gaza operations over supply shortages
cgtn.com
