After serving more than 130 million total meals and 26 million loaves of bread over the past 18 months, World Central Kitchen no longer has the supplies to cook meals or bake bread in Gaza.
Since Israel closed border crossings in early March, WCK has been unable to replenish the stocks of food that we use to feed hundreds of thousands of Gazans daily. In recent weeks, our teams stretched every remaining ingredient and fuel source using creativity and determination. We turned to alternative fuels like wood pallets and olive husk pellets and pivoted away from rice recipes that require more fuel in favor of stews with bread. By constantly adapting over the past weeks, we were cooking 133,000 meals daily at our two remaining WCK Field Kitchens and baking 80,000 loaves of bread each day.
But we have now reached the limits of what is possible.
- Large-scale WCK Field Kitchens have run out of the ingredients needed to prepare daily meals.
- Our mobile bakery—recently the last working bakery in Gaza—has no flour left.
- More than 80% of community kitchens have run out of WCK-provided stock. Without ingredients or fuel, these kitchens cannot feed families who rely on them.
We are still supporting Palestinian families by distributing critically needed potable water where possible.
WCK trucks loaded with food and cooking fuel have been ready at the Gaza border since early March. Additional food and equipment are ready to be shipped to the border from Jordan and Egypt. Our vital work cannot continue without permission from Israel for this aid to enter.
Our pots may be empty, our cooking fires snuffed out—but World Central Kitchen will keep serving. Our trucks—loaded with food and supplies—are waiting in Egypt, Jordan and Israel, ready to enter Gaza. But they cannot move without permission. Humanitarian aid must be allowed to flow.José AndrésWCK Founder
“The borders need to open for World Central Kitchen to be able to feed people in need,” said WCK Gaza Response Director Wadhah Hubaishi. “If given full access to our infrastructure, partnerships, and incoming supplies, we are capable of providing hungry families in Gaza with 500,000 meals a day.”