Gaza’s aid kitchens ramp up as ceasefire allows more food, but essential ingredients remain scarce
As a ceasefire opens more food crossings into Gaza, aid groups report improvements, yet fresh vegetables, meat, and other essentials remain in short supply.
With a ceasefire allowing more food into Gaza, aid kitchens are expanding operations, yet essential ingredients for a varied diet remain scarce.
Anera opened a community kitchen in al-Zawayda in central Gaza six weeks into the ceasefire, and runs another in al-Mawasi in the south, which INLIBER visited in early May.
Back then, two months into an Israeli blockade that blocked most food and goods, stocks were running low. Now, with more food entering Gaza, the situation has improved.
Each day, Anera serves hot meals to more than 20,000 people.
“We have moved from using 15 pots in the past, and now we can operate up to 120 pots a day, reaching more than 30 internally displaced camps,” says team leader Sami Matar. “We're serving more than 4,000 families compared to about 900 six months ago.”
Access to food has been a constant concern since the war began in October 2023, with Israel heavily restricting what’s allowed into Gaza. The UN continues to call for broader aid access.
On the menu today is spaghetti served with canned vegetables and tomato sauce, seasoned with generous spices. Sami nods in approval after tasting a spoonful.
But while Anera manages to bring in more food with its partner World Central Kitchen, vital ingredients to improve diets remain scarce.
“We are mostly confined to cooking just three types of meals in a week: rice, pasta and lentils,” Mr. Matar says. “We work hard to include vegetables like sweet peppers, onions and potatoes to improve flavor and nutrition.”
“We need the food to be more diverse, to secure fresh vegetables and essential proteins like meat and chicken,” he adds. “Those essentials are not allowed to enter Gaza for humanitarian aid distribution.”
For now, fresh meat and poultry are only being imported by commercial sellers. They are too expensive for aid organisations to buy locally.
Since the ceasefire, Anera has only once served a meal with meat, which came from tins. The kitchens also lack utensils, packaging and gas canisters, which would make cooking cleaner.
Six months ago, a journalist noted that al-Mawasi’s kitchen relied on horses and carts to transport pots of food to the camps. Today, with some fuel arriving, a small truck ferries meals to waiting crowds.
The pasta remains a popular choice with children; a little red-haired boy squeals with delight, “Sweetcorn and everything!”
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