All Gaza bakeries cease operations due to depletion of flour, fuel
GAZA: All bakeries in the Gaza Strip were brought to a standstill on Tuesday due to the depletion of flour and fuel, following the Israeli month-long blockade that prevented their entry, raising further concerns about the potential spread of famine among the embattled Gazans.
Head of Gaza’s bakery owners’ association Abdel Nasser Al Ajrami said the war of starvation is looming as all bakeries subsidized by the World Food Programme (WFP) had been shuttered in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday, with bakeries of Gaza and the northern Strip ceasing their operations starting from Tuesday.
Al Ajrami added that WFP officially informed all entities of the depletion of flour in its stock, implying that all bakeries that had been depending on WFP would entirely cease the operation of producing breads, leaving hundreds of thousands of families without a key source of food.
Gazans fundamentally depend on WFP-subsidized bakeries whose number is 18 distributed to multiple areas throughout the Gaza Strip and constitute the major lifeline for thousands of families who already suffer from food insecurity.
However, after coming to a complete halt, the Strip is braced for an unprecedented menace that could degenerate into a real humanitarian catastrophe, he warned.
Al Ajrami stressed that the situation is extremely dangerous, indicating that closing these bakeries means that thousands of families will never find breads, and the disaster will aggravate unless land crossings are immediately opened to deliver the fundamental materials.
He highlighted that bakeries can’t be operated unless flour and fuel are secured, adding that this is not a bakery crisis, but rather a crisis that haunts the life of hundreds of thousands of people who count on bread as the key source of their nutrition.
He urgently appealed to the international community and humanitarian institutions to pressure Israel to reopen the crossings and allow the passage of food items and fuel to stave off the exacerbation of the humanitarian crisis.
Recent UN reports have indicated that the Gaza Strip has entered the initial stages of famine, with more than two million people having lost their food security almost entirely.
Warnings are mounting that the days ahead could be catastrophic and extremely dangerous unless the Israeli onslaught on the region ceases, as Gazans continue to suffer from degenerating living and health conditions.
-QNA
