 "Palestinians wait to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, April 8, 2025. (Photo: Reuters)")
The World Food Programme (WFP) has run out of food in the Gaza Strip as a result of Israel’s blockade, according to the United Nations (UN).
Israel on March 2 put in place a complete blockade of Gaza and stopped a flow of all humanitarian assistance.
In the absence of any supplies, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has warned that Gaza is at the risk of imminent famine as most essential supplies, such as flour, sugar, and cooking oil, have run out across Gaza’s markets.
Despite the dire conditions, Israel has no intention to let in any supplies. Last week, Israeli military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said that Israel would “expand our activity into a more intense and significant operation” in the coming days if progress in ceasefire-hostage release talks is not made soon.
UN’s last food supplies exhausted
The last batch of supplies were delivered to kitchens preparing hot meals on Friday and those meals were expected to be dispatched to people across Gaza in the coming days, according to the UN.
The WFP said in a statement that Gaza “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”.
The UN said that all 25 bakeries in Gaza supported by the WFP were shut after running out of supplies on March 31.
Since Israel implemented complete blockade, no humanitarian or commercial supplies have entered Gaza for more than seven weeks despite as much as 116,000 metric tonnes of food assistance, which should be enough to feed all Gazans for two months, waiting to be brought into Gaza if Israel would lift the blockade.
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More Shorts“WFP urges all parties to prioritise the needs of civilians and allow aid to enter Gaza immediately and uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law,” said the WFP.
Gaza is facing the double whammy of the blockade and continued Israeli airstrikes. last week, at least 36 heavy machines used in humanitarian relief operations, such as excavators, water trucks, and sewer suction tanks were destroyed in Israeli attacks, according to the UN.