GAZA, (PIC)
In a move that sparked a state of popular discontent in the Gaza Strip, the World Central Kitchen (WCK) organization decided to reduce part of its relief activity in the Strip, especially regarding the distribution of hot meals to poor and displaced families inside shelter camps.
Identical sources confirmed to PIC that the management of the organization informed about 400 employees and volunteers of the termination of their contracts, out of approximately 700 workers and employees working within its various programs in Gaza, as part of a plan to restructure and reduce field operations.
Ending services and reduction
According to the sources, the decision includes closing a number of food preparation points in separate areas of the Strip, as well as reducing work in the main center of the organization in the al-Zawayda area in the central Strip, which will reflect on the volume of hot meals provided in the cities of central and southern Gaza, especially Deir al-Balah and Khan Yunis, which contain the largest mass of displaced people, specifically in the Mawasi area west of the city.
One of the workers who was informed of the termination of their services told Quds Press that the organization notified the employees at the beginning of the current month of the decision to reduce the number of workers, justifying it by re-evaluating the nature of humanitarian interventions and work needs during the coming period.
This decision comes at a time when the residents of the Gaza Strip live in extremely difficult humanitarian and living conditions, in light of the continuation of the war, the rise in poverty and displacement rates, and the reliance of hundreds of thousands of families on aid and free meals as a primary source of food, which raised fears of worsening the suffering of poor and displaced families with the reduction of the organization’s services.
At the same time, UN and international warnings continue of the worsening of the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, with the continued deterioration of living conditions and the shortage of basic food supplies.
Primary source of food
Citizen Ahmed Abu Shamala, a displaced person living in a tent in the Mawasi area west of Khan Yunis, said that the meals provided by the organization formed the primary food source for his family consisting of seven members, especially in light of the significant rise in food prices and the difficulty of providing flour and basic materials.
He added to the PIC, “We used to rely daily on these meals, because we do not have the ability to buy food or provide cooking supplies, and reducing the work of the kitchens will increase the suffering of the people, especially children and the elderly.”
WCK is considered one of the most prominent international humanitarian organizations working in the Gaza Strip since 2023, as it relies on a model of Palestinians feeding Palestinians, through employing hundreds of Gazans to manage its field kitchens.
The organization manages more than 60 community kitchens distributed across different areas of the Strip, while the hot meals it provides form one of the most important food relief programs, with an average ranging between half a million and one million meals daily, which a wide segment of families rely on to secure the minimum level of food in light of the deteriorating humanitarian conditions.
Reliance on community kitchens
For her part, Umm Mohammed al-Masri, a displaced woman from Gaza City currently residing in Deir al-Balah, said that thousands of families have come to rely on soup kitchens and community kitchens after losing their sources of income and the destruction of their homes.
She confirmed that any reduction in food aid reflects directly on the lives of the residents, adding, “People are tired of hunger and displacement, and on many days we find nothing to eat except the meals of the soup kitchen, therefore everyone fears the cessation of these services or their reduction.”
Despite the ceasefire since last October, the Israeli occupation forces still impose restrictions on the volume of goods and aid entering the Strip, which did not exceed 38% of the agreed quantity, which led to the continuation of cases of malnutrition and the use of food as a tool of collective punishment.
In a recent report, Doctors Without Borders warned that the malnutrition crisis manufactured by Israel in Gaza has a devastating impact on pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, newborns, and infants under the age of six months during periods of intense hostilities and blockade, according to an analysis of medical data published by the organization.
In four health facilities managed or supported by Doctors Without Borders between late 2024 and early 2026, the organization’s teams recorded higher levels of premature birth and deaths among infants born to mothers affected by malnutrition during pregnancy, and high levels of spontaneous miscarriage, and noticed a sharp increase in non-adherence to treatment among children suffering from malnutrition.
Doctors Without Borders linked these results to Israel’s ban on basic goods and its attacks on civilian infrastructure, including medical facilities.
It confirmed that insecurity, displacement, restrictions imposed on aid, and limited access to food and medical care, all brought devastating consequences to the health of mothers and newborns.