JAKARTA - Dozens of public kitchens in the Gaza Strip, Palestine closed on Thursday due to a shortage of raw material supplies, closing the life path used by hundreds of thousands of people, which is a further blow to efforts to combat rising hunger in the enclave.
The move comes hours after US-based World Central Kitchen (WCK) charities announced they were running out of the materials needed to provide the much-needed free food, on the other hand prevented by Israel from bringing aid.
Amjad al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian Non-Government Organizational Network (PNGO) in Gaza, told Reuters most of the 170 public kitchens in the enclave had been closed after running out of stock due to the continuing Israeli blockade in Gaza.
Shawa said the WCK's decision, announced late Wednesday, and the close of the public kitchen on Thursday would lead to a drop of between 400,000 to 500,000 free meals per day for 2.3 million residents.
"Everyone in Gaza is currently starving. The world must act now to save the people here," Shawa said, speaking to Reuters by telephone from Gaza.
"The remaining kitchens will be closed soon. This hunger disaster is not pleasing. People are losing their only food source," Shawa added.
Meanwhile, Gazans who try to cook themselves complain that the flour still available on the market is contaminated.
"The flour is full of mites and sand. We filtered it three, four times, not once, so we could roast it," said Mohammad Abu Ayesh, a nine-child father who fled northern Gaza.
"We don't want to eat it, but we feed the children, for the children. You can't tolerate the smell, livestock and animals won't eat it, we are forced to eat it beyond our wishes, we are helpless," he told Reuters.
Israel itself faces growing international pressure to lift the ban blockade it imposed in March, after the end of a US-backed ceasefire that has halted fighting for two months.
Israel has accused large numbers of aid falling into the hands of Hamas militants, accused of confiscating supplies aimed at civilians and using them for their own forces.
Hamas denies the allegations, accusing Israel of using hunger as a weapon against residents, most of whom have displaced at least once during the 19-month conflict.
In Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian woman Huda Abu Diyya has just returned from a visit to the public kitchen where she received what the owner said would be her family's last meal.
"If it weren't for a public kitchen, we would have died. For the sake of our children, what would we do? What should I give them to eat tomorrow?" the woman told Reuters.
"Nothing is available here. Everything is very expensive, we have nothing here. The situation is below zero. A little more like this and we will die from hunger," he added.
Two weeks ago most residents relied on one and a half meals per day, but in recent days the number has dropped to one meal a day, and it will also lack the necessary healthy meat, vegetables, or components, Shawa said.
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"Free food is usually in the form of rice or lentil beans, which are now also at risk of being stopped next week. I'm afraid we might start watching deaths among the elderly, vulnerable children, pregnant women, and sick people," Shawa explained.
On the other hand, looting that is increasingly rife in public kitchens, local traders shops, and the UN headquarters have encouraged Hamas security forces to take firm action against local gangs. Hamas executed at least six gang members last week, according to sources close to the group.
The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said more than 2 million people - mostly Gazans - face severe food shortages.
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