‘We'll return to famine' - Displaced families in Gaza protest World Central Kitchen meal cuts

GAZA CITY - Dozens of displaced Palestinians gathered outside a World Central Kitchen distribution centre in central Gaza to protest cuts in hot meal assistance, warning that the decision could push families back toward famine conditions, Anadolu Ajansi (AA) reported.

Outside the organisation’s distribution centre in Al-Masdar village, men, women and children stood holding signs demanding the continuation of food aid and urging the charity to reverse its decision.

Some protesters beat empty cooking pots they carried during the demonstration, expressing anger over cuts they said threatened one of the few remaining lifelines for displaced families.

World Central Kitchen said the decision was "driven entirely by financial pressure” and did not reflect any reduction in humanitarian need inside Gaza.

The organisation said it would continue delivering hundreds of thousands of hot meals daily after previously serving 1 million meals a day following an expansion of operations triggered by worsening humanitarian conditions.

An elderly displaced Palestinian woman, who declined to give her name, told Anadolu that families relied almost entirely on charitable kitchens for survival.

"We depend completely on these meals. We cannot afford food, and we have no cooking gas or even wood to use as an alternative,” she said.

She said many families had already gone days without food and warned that continued reductions would inevitably deepen the crisis.

"If these cuts continue, famine will return,” she said.

Abdel Hadi Muslim, one of the protest organisers, said thousands of families in the Bureij and Maghazi refugee camps had already lost access to daily meals following the reduction decision.

He called on World Central Kitchen to reverse the cuts and urged international institutions and donors to continue supporting relief organisations, particularly the UN refugee agency.

"This service is a lifeline for thousands of displaced and poor families,” he said.

The reduction is not the first by the organisation. Earlier this year, Gaza’s government media office said World Central Kitchen had halted flour support to bakeries providing subsidised bread in the enclave.

According to the World Food Programme, 1.6 million people in Gaza face severe food insecurity, including more than 100,000 children and 37,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women.

Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip since 2007, leaving the territory’s 2.4 million people on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli army launched a brutal two-year offensive on Gaza in October 2023, killing more than 72,000 people, injuring over 172,000, and causing massive destruction across the besieged territory. - BERNAMA