UN Food Agency Runs Out of Stock in Gaza as Famine Looms

The UN’s food agency announced on Friday that it has run out of all food stock in Gaza after eight weeks of Israel’s humanitarian aid blockade, which has left the entire territory on the brink of — or in the depths of — famine.

The World Food Programme (WFP) distributed its last food stocks to kitchens serving hot meals on Friday. These kitchens have served as “the only consistent source of food assistance” for Palestinians amid the renewed Israeli blockade in recent weeks, the agency said, and have served half the population — about 1 million people.

The depletion of WFP’s stocks will lead to yet more devastation for Palestinians, with little to no options left for food and other basic needs even for those with money left to pay for commercial goods. Earlier this month, all bakeries in the region were forced to close after flour and fuel stocks were depleted across Gaza. WFP said it distributed its last food parcels, which provide two weeks of rations, to families last month.

The agency said that, if Israel’s blockade continues, WFP may have to end its assistance in Gaza altogether. The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) also warned on Thursday that its food stocks and other relief supplies are “nearly depleted.”

The end of food assistance in Gaza would have horrific consequences. The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned this week that Israel’s humanitarian catastrophe has already reached “unprecedented levels” and that the entire population of Gaza is “trapped, starving and desperate” due to the aid blockade.

Gaza’s Government Media Office has said that famine is a “reality” in Gaza, with at least 52 deaths — 50 of them children — recorded from starvation and malnutrition so far. The food shortage is threatening the lives of a million children in the Strip, the government said.

UN officials have said that there are thousands of trucks carrying hundreds of thousands of tons of aid, lined up outside of the border crossing and waiting for Israel to allow entry into the Strip. In recent weeks, numerous UN officials have said that Israel is using humanitarian aid as a weapon of war.

“This is the longest closure the Gaza Strip has ever faced, exacerbating already fragile markets and food systems,” WFP said. “Food prices have skyrocketed up to 1,400 percent compared to during the ceasefire, and essential food commodities are in short supply raising serious nutrition concerns for vulnerable populations, including children under five, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and the elderly.”

But Israel is not showing any signs of letting up on the aid blockade, with Israeli authorities vowing a permanent occupation of large swaths of Gaza while continuing to sabotage ceasefire talks that would involve a resumption of humanitarian aid entry.

The end goal is, seemingly, to starve out the remaining 2 million people in Gaza. This objective has the support of U.S. leaders, as Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir boasted after a meeting at Mar-a-Lago with senior Republicans during a visit to the U.S. this week.

At the meeting, Republicans “expressed support for my clear stance … that food and aid depots should be bombed,” Ben-Gvir said.