We know the worsening situation in Gaza has left our World Central Kitchen community with a lot of questions – we want to try to give you all the insight we can from our on-the-ground operations. These answers reflect the most accurate information available about our work in Gaza as of December 8, 2025. The situation on the ground changes rapidly—access, needs, and operations can shift day to day. We are committed to sharing clear, up-to-date details about our response – you can always find more about our operating status and recent work here.

Is World Central Kitchen actually getting food into Gaza? How?

While this answer can change each day, we are currently getting some ingredients and supplies into Gaza we are using to cook for vulnerable families and medical facilities in the communities of Deir Al-Balah and Mawasi. Our supply trucks must adhere to strict direction from the IDF on the times, routes, and convoy sizes. Whether supplies can reach our kitchens depends on both 1) day-to-day permission from Israel for aid trucks to enter Gaza and 2) ability to move safely on the assigned route. The more flexibility we can have from Israel to make decisions based on both local knowledge and best security practices, the more success we have getting aid to our kitchens, and ultimately to Gazan families. Closures of key crossings for aid routes remain a major risk that could impede the safe delivery of ingredients and supplies. A secured humanitarian corridor is not currently available – that would provide the best opportunity for WCK and other organizations to reliably get food to kitchens.

I heard WCK stopped cooking because of shortages. What’s your status now?

As of December 8, we are currently cooking hot meals at six Field Kitchens across Gaza, as well as baking bread at multiple bakeries and distributing clean potable water. We are also supporting dozens community kitchens, which use our aid supplies to cook for their most vulnerable neighbors.

Do you halt all WCK operations when food runs out?

We do everything we can to keep serving the community with whatever we have, even if we are unable to cook. During our cooking gap in May and June, we were entirely out of food but we repurposed our facilities and staff toward water filtration to bring communities safe, clean water. 

So now you’re able to cook and serve meals like before the 2025 restrictions?

Over the past month, we’ve steadily scaled up from 90,000 to around 650,000 meals daily, more than we were serving before being forced to halt operations. This is possible thanks to the tireless efforts of teams at our Field Kitchens, our network of Community Kitchens, and restaurant partners. Our teams are pushing to expand further, with the goal of reaching 1 million meals daily if enough supplies and fuel are allowed in.

Combining different models and approaches to distributing meals, all grounded in true community-led approaches, has been critical for us to get meals to the people who need them. 

What does that mean for how you’re distributing now?

While we have steadily scaled up meal production in recent weeks, the need far exceeds what we can serve. The local WCK team is doing everything they can to get meals to families in extremely vulnerable situations. One example is the GCV Academy of Hope, a school designed for children ages 5-14 whose parents are battling serious health conditions like cancer and kidney failure or who are disabled or injured themselves.

In early August, they reached out to WCK because the children hadn’t had any food. We delivered hundreds of meals and more than 1,000 loaves of bread. For many, it was the first full meal in days. For some, it was the first warm food they had tasted in weeks. They actually hugged the loaves of bread and cried when they ate.

The work we’re doing remains incredibly critical – we want to do more, we don’t want to leave anyone behind.

What are the challenges on the ground?

Our number one challenge is reliable access to our ingredients and supplies. Challenges with day-to-day permission for aid entry and the inability to move safely on assigned routes have meant we simply can’t make enough meals to meet the need.

Our distribution process is also facing a range of challenges – limited operational space we can move in safely given evacuation orders, escalating levels of need that limit how many people we can reach, and fuel shortages that make it impossible to travel outside of a short radius. 

This team has overcome every hurdle for nearly two years. From how we designed special stoves and solar fans to avoid the need for cooking fuel to creating olive husk-based substitutes for cooking pellets when our usual supplies could no longer enter. Now, when trucks don’t have fuel, they’re using donkey carts to make deliveries of the limited food available.

These aren’t challenges we overcome alone – we channel the local expertise, the power of the communities we work with, and partners to tackle the impossible. We need support to reach the scale we’re capable of.

What is the impact of being able to cook on the World Central Kitchen team?

In the words of our Response Director for Gaza, Wadhah Hubaishi: “When cooking was suspended in May and June, the atmosphere was heavy. With no meals to prepare, only our water production and distribution continued. Our teams continued to work around-the-clock every day to support communities and prepare for possible restart. Being unable to cook was deeply disheartening – it’s a painful reminder of how fragile food access truly is for our communities in Gaza.

The restart of cooking at WCK felt like a spark of life reignited. As soon as we could light the first pots, the atmosphere shifted.  After months of stress and uncertainty, returning to the kitchen was more than just resuming operations: It reaffirmed our purpose and resilience.”

What do you need to feed more people in Gaza?

The combination of our Field Kitchens and our network of Community Kitchens and Restaurant Partners are capable of scaling up production of hot meals quickly, if we can get more aid safely to our kitchen and access a reliable fuel supply. As our founder José Andrés laid out in the New York Times, we urgently need to open humanitarian corridors accessible to all aid groups operating in Gaza to ensure food, water and medicine can arrive safely and at scale.

This is how we can ensure that meals and ingredients make it to the Gazan community who is desperately in need.