Dozens of Gaza communal kitchens shut as supply runs out, worsening hunger

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Mahmoud Issa

CAIRO/GAZA (Reuters) - 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.

'WE ARE HELPLESS'

"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.

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, especially those for flour, which has become scarce and sells at around $500 for a 25 kg (55 lb) sack, compared with $7 in the past. 

(Reporting and writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi. Additional reporting by Mahmoud Issa in Gaza, Editing by William Maclean)