With the conflict in Iran and the closing of the borders into Gaza, World Central Kitchen will be forced to temporarily pause meal distribution in the Strip on Thursday.

As of last week, World Central Kitchen has continued cooking an average of one million hot meals per day in Gaza. But food in Gaza depends entirely on daily shipments. What arrives today feeds people tomorrow. There is no surplus sitting in warehouses. There is no reserve to draw from. If food is not entering every single day, it simply runs out.

When the border closes, the impact is immediate. Kitchen supplies are depleted. Families are left waiting for meals that are no longer there. Food must keep entering — every single day.

Until recently, we were operating with a seven-day working inventory at our current production rate. That buffer had already been reduced to just two days due to inconsistent truck flow from Egypt, which represents the largest share of our supply chain. Now, with further border disruptions, there will be no food to cook.

We are doing everything in our power to restore the flow of supplies. Our kitchens are ready. Our staff and local partners are ready. The moment food is allowed to enter at scale, we will resume operations.

This is not a sustainable model. One organization cannot carry the burden of feeding such a large portion of the population indefinitely. Gaza requires consistent, predictable humanitarian access at scale. Without daily deliveries of food, the system stops — and hunger returns as quickly as it was pushed back.

For more information or media enquiries, please contact:  

Roberta Alves, Director of Media Relations at ralves@worldcentralkitchen.org or +1 202.400.7483

Our full media team is reachable at press@wck.org