José Andrés: What I Saw in Gaza
From the start of this terrible war between Hamas and Israel, we have prioritized one thing, and one thing alone: to feed as many hungry people, as quickly as possible.
Our results speak for themselves: well over 100 million meals cooked and distributed in Gaza.
But the need is so much more.
That was the main purpose of my visit to Gaza and Israel this past week: to support our teams on the ground, to see for myself how they are coping, and above all to push for more food, more quickly, in Gaza.
Our goal is to cook and distribute one million hot meals a day across Gaza. That is around five times what we’re cooking today, but it is possible and it is vital. Alongside more food aid from other NGOs, it would save countless lives among the people in Gaza who have been starving for months on end.
I landed in Israel on Thursday morning and traveled straight to Gaza, moving independently with just a small team. We could move as freely as you can in an active war zone.
Our entry into Gaza coincided with an increase in the number of aid trucks crossing the border. This is a welcome improvement, but it needs to be sustained every day to make a difference to the lives of so many Palestinians who are desperate for food.
The scenes in Gaza were shocking: destroyed buildings, aid trucks abandoned after looting, displaced civilians walking for miles to search for basic necessities.
When you see our teams at work, in the kitchens, warehouses, and bakeries in Gaza, you can see the best of humanity. Palestinians cooking for Palestinians, taking care of strangers, taking care of their community one plate at a time.
When you see the giant pots of food cooking in Deir al-Balah, when you taste the fresh pita bread rolling off our mobile bakeries, you get a sense of hope in the future. A sense that someone cares.
These people need our support. They are the ones who can build a better tomorrow.
They are grateful for our help, but we should be grateful to them: for showing that humanity can win the day, despite all the risks they face every day.
After spending most of the day in Gaza, I drove to the nearby communities in Israel that were brutally attacked on October 7th, 2023.
I saw for myself the site of the Nova music festival, where so many young people were massacred. I spoke to Reut Karp whose children survived that day in Kibbutz Re’im, after their father and his partner were murdered in front of them. She recorded her phone call with her young daughter that day, fearing it would be her last.
I met with Yair Horn, who was held hostage for almost 500 days underground, alongside his brother Eitan. They were starved, threatened with death, drinking a little saltwater to survive. Yair may be free but his brother is still in a tunnel somewhere in Gaza, and he yearns for Eitan to come home.
There is too much suffering. Everyone is grieving, or knows someone who is grieving. We are still grieving the deaths of our seven heroes at World Central Kitchen, killed by Israeli air strikes for doing nothing more than helping to feed people they would never meet.
This trip was also an opportunity to push Israeli officials, once again, for justice for the families of Saif Abutaha, John Chapman, Jacob Flickinger, Zomi Frankcom, Jim Henderson, James Kirby, and Damian Sobol.
We will never forget them.
In my meetings with Israeli officials, I also pushed hard for more food in Gaza – for all aid groups, and for our own plans to cook one million meals a day.
With the scale of suffering in Gaza and Israel, it can sometimes feel like there is little room for compassion in the middle of so much grief.
But I heard time and again from Palestinians and Israelis who see the humanity in one another.
At WCK, we believe that our shared humanity begins by sharing a plate of food. I know you believe that, too.
Thank you for your support.
Thank you for understanding the power of food to change the world.
Help WCK reach the goal of 1 million daily meals in Gaza.
