Gaza food crisis worsens as WFP runs out of aid amid Israeli blockade

WFP warns of imminent famine in Gaza after delivering its last food stocks, as Israel's blockade enters its eighth week.

Displaced Palestinians extend their hands and containers to receive hot meals distributed by aid organizations at the Jabalia Refugee Camp in northern Gaza City, Gaza, on April 24, 2025. Photo by Mahmoud Issa/Anadolu

By Anna Fadiah and Hayu Andini

The Gaza food crisis reached a catastrophic new stage on Friday as the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) announced that it had distributed its last remaining food supplies. The warning comes after over seven weeks of Israel blocking humanitarian aid from entering the war-ravaged enclave, where more than 2 million Palestinians now face acute food insecurity and starvation.

The WFP, a key provider of emergency assistance in the region, stated that its final food shipments were delivered to hot meals kitchens in Gaza, which are expected to completely run out of supplies within days. The announcement coincides with an alarming escalation in the humanitarian emergency in Gaza, where ongoing Israeli airstrikes and a prolonged siege have brought the population to the brink of famine.

UN warns Gaza facing worst conditions since war began

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the current state in Gaza may be the most dire since Israel began its military campaign in response to Hamas attacks nearly 18 months ago. The WFP’s operations have been severely restricted due to the Israeli blockade, which began after talks over a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas collapsed.

“For weeks, hot meal kitchens have been the only consistent source of food assistance for people in Gaza,” the WFP noted in its statement. “Despite reaching just half the population with only 25 percent of daily food needs, they have provided a critical lifeline.”

But with those kitchens now running dry, the risk of mass hunger and starvation looms large.

Israel continues blockade, citing pressure on Hamas

The Israeli government has maintained that the blockade serves as a necessary pressure mechanism against Hamas. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that the ongoing restriction of humanitarian aid is intended to prevent Hamas from manipulating food and supplies for political leverage.

“This is one of the main pressure levers preventing Hamas from using aid as a tool with the population,” Katz said.

However, international condemnation of the blockade is mounting. On Wednesday, the foreign ministers of Germany, France, and Britain issued a joint statement calling for an immediate end to the restrictions, warning of “an acute risk of starvation, epidemic disease and death” in Gaza.

"The Israeli decision to block aid from entering Gaza is intolerable," the ministers said, adding that humanitarian access must be restored without delay.

WFP support structures collapse under lack of resources

Alongside the end of hot meal distributions, WFP announced that all 25 bakeries it supports in the Gaza Strip were forced to shut down on March 31 due to the exhaustion of essential ingredients such as wheat flour and cooking oil.

“This is the longest closure the Gaza Strip has ever faced, exacerbating already fragile markets and food systems,” WFP said, underscoring the unprecedented nature of the current crisis.

The heads of 12 major international aid organizations—including Oxfam and Save the Children—have echoed these warnings. In a collective statement last week, they declared that “famine is not just a risk, but likely rapidly unfolding in almost all parts” of the besieged coastal enclave.

Death toll continues to rise amid renewed Israeli offensive

Since Israel resumed its military operations in Gaza on March 18, the territory’s health ministry has reported at least 2,062 deaths. That brings the total number of fatalities in Gaza since the start of the conflict to 51,439.

The latest surge in violence has also contributed to one of the highest single-day death tolls in recent weeks, with at least 78 Palestinians killed within 24 hours, according to Gaza’s health authorities.

While the bombing campaigns persist, civilians are increasingly dying not just from airstrikes, but from the scarcity of food and clean water. “We are literally dying of hunger,” said Gaza City resident Tasnim Abu Matar, expressing a sentiment shared by countless others trapped in the conflict zone.

Families devastated by both war and starvation

Beyond statistics, the human toll of the Gaza food crisis and the ongoing violence is increasingly harrowing. On Friday, five members of the al-Taima family were killed when an Israeli airstrike struck their makeshift tent in Al-Mawasi, near Khan Yunis.

Ramy, a Gaza resident who only provided his first name, shared a chilling account of losing his young son during the same attack. “When I couldn't find him, I went back to the tent and I found him on fire,” he told AFP.

Elsewhere, civil defense crews continued to uncover more victims from the rubble of destroyed homes. In northern Jabalia, 11 more bodies were recovered following a deadly airstrike the previous day, raising the death toll from that incident alone to 23.

“Civil defence teams recovered 11 bodies last night and this morning following the Israeli bombing that targeted a residential house,” said Mohammed al-Mughayyir, an official with Gaza’s civil defense agency.

International pressure builds for humanitarian access

The worsening Gaza food crisis has brought increased international scrutiny on Israel’s blockade and calls for urgent humanitarian relief. Despite the WFP’s warnings and appeals from global leaders, aid convoys remain halted, and there are no immediate signs of a policy shift from the Israeli government.

As the humanitarian infrastructure collapses and food supplies dwindle to nothing, aid agencies warn that time is running out. The WFP has reiterated its readiness to resume operations if access is granted, but the delay is costing lives every day.

The lack of food is not just a secondary tragedy to the war—it has become its own catastrophe. With famine looming, international actors face growing pressure to intervene, negotiate humanitarian corridors, and ensure that the people of Gaza are not left to starve amid the rubble of war.

Until then, the people of Gaza are caught between relentless bombardment and a deadly siege of hunger, as the world watches a humanitarian disaster unfold in real time.