More than 40 million meals served in Gaza by land, air, and sea
Since first responding to conflict in the Middle East over five months ago, World Central Kitchen has provided more than 41 million meals to Palestinians in need. We have established a network of dozens of kitchens, and delivered desperately needed aid by land, air, and sea. Alongside local and international partners, we are ensuring as much food as possible reaches communities facing starvation.
By land
To date, WCK has dispatched more than 1,600 trucks from our warehouse in Cairo, Egypt to our network of kitchens in Gaza. These convoys supply our main Relief Kitchens in Rafah and Deir al-Balah, as well as the network of community kitchens we established across Gaza.
While our efforts center around our Relief Kitchens, we also support more than 60 community kitchens spread across Rafah, Khan Yunis, and Deir al-Balah. Nearly 400 Palestinians work in these kitchens, making over 170,000 hot meals every day. Their creativity and determination are helping to scale up our efforts and reach more families in need.
In Deir al-Balah, we are set to begin cooking tens of thousands of meals daily from our new Relief Kitchen. Nearby, we opened a Welcome Center for displaced Palestinians fleeing by foot from northern Gaza in search of safety further south. People are greeted by WCK’s team with hot meals and food kits. We have also invited multi-sector engagement for services like medical care to ensure families get the urgent support they require. Currently, about 500 people each day are allowed to cross this checkpoint that divides northern and southern Gaza.
The crisis in the Middle East has entered its fifth month, coinciding with the beginning of Ramadan on March 10. The holy month is observed by Muslims worldwide as a time of fasting, prayer, and reflection. However, for countless families in Gaza on the brink of starvation, it is impossible to gather together. To help foster a sense of community and provide food, WCK is distributing 92,000 Ramadan food boxes—the equivalent of 4.7 million meals. Through this special Ramadan kit distribution, we are providing not only nourishing food, but also comfort and a sense of home.
By air
WCK has participated in several airdrops of humanitarian aid into northern Gaza in partnership with the air forces of several countries. In our latest airdrop alongside the Royal Jordanian Air Force, we provided 52,700 meals, totaling 15 tons of aid, to Palestinian families in war-torn communities. WCK and José have been tirelessly pushing to establish faster, more reliable entry for food aid going to Gaza. Access of aid into northern Gaza is extremely limited and airdrops offer a lifeline to families on the brink of famine. “Food airdrops are a short, temporary, but powerful way to deliver some food to the north,” said José.
By sea
WCK provided almost 200 tons of food to communities in northern Gaza that arrived in our first maritime aid shipment. The food that reached families facing starvation arrived aboard the first humanitarian shipment to reach the Gazan coast in nearly two decades.
The delivery of rice, flour, legumes, vegetables, and proteins to families in the north, where access to aid is highly restricted, proves desperately needed food can be delivered by sea. In addition to the food that arrived on the Open Arms boat, the convoy to the north also carried ready-to-eat meals.
For months, our teams across the region have worked nonstop with the support of the United Arab Emirates and Cyprus to open this maritime aid route into Gaza. We are sourcing and loading food onto boats in Cyprus and built our own jetty in Gaza using rubble, including from bombed buildings, to safely unload cargo.
Preparations are underway to dispatch a second boat carrying hundreds more tons of aid, along with heavy machinery to expedite the offloading process. The second vessel will be accompanied by a support boat that will assist with offloading. “I want us to build a highway of constantly flowing aid on the sea as just one more access point into Gaza that is so desperately needed,” said WCK CEO Erin Gore, who was recently on the ground in Cyprus.
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