Gaza - Saba:
Only four bakeries out of 25 contracted with the World Food Programme (WFP) are operating, head of the Bakeries Owners Association in the Gaza Strip said on Saturday.
In a statement to the Palestinian SAFA News Agency on Saturday, Abdul Nasser Al-Ajrami added that the four bakeries were operating in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, while the enemy prevents the operation of several major bakeries in several areas, forcing residents to flee and classifying them as red zones.
He explained that no bakeries have been operating in Khan Younis Governorate due to the difficult security situation, the ongoing shelling, and the displacement of most of its residents.
He pointed out that the enemy has prevented the operation of the main Al-Qalaa bakery in the governorate, as well as others.
He noted that a bakery in the Nossairat camp in the central Gaza Strip operated for one day, then closed again due to the chaos and the bakery's inability to cope with the hordes of hungry people who stormed the bakery.
He explained that the aforementioned bakery in Nossairat was forced to return its supplies to the World Food Programme, stressing that it would be unable to operate under these conditions unless flour was distributed to citizens to provide them with a sense of food security after these months of famine. This would also reduce the number of people storming bakeries beyond their capacity.
Regarding the northern Gaza Strip, Al-Ajrami noted that most of its bakeries have been targeted, and that the remaining bakeries are unable to operate amid the intensification of the war of extermination and the ongoing bombardment.
He said, "The quantities of flour are very small and have not reached most governorates, due to the occupation army's control over the movement of trucks, and the theft of some by gangs of chaos in Khan Younis Governorate."
He confirmed that 50 bakeries are the remaining 140 that were bombed. The fate of 25 of these bakeries is known, as they were contracted with the World Food Programme, while the fate of 25 others remains unknown since last March.
The Israeli occupation authorities brought a small number of flour trucks into the Gaza Strip last Tuesday, by decision of the Israeli cabinet. These trucks were insufficient to meet the minimum needs of the Strip, coinciding with the intensification of the massacres and genocide.
Bakeries contracted with the World Food Programme closed their doors in early April due to the shortage of flour and diesel fuel needed for their operations due to the Israeli closure of the crossings.
Since March 2, the Israeli occupation forces have imposed a strict blockade on the Gaza Strip, preventing the entry of aid and goods into the Strip, as famine has reached dangerous levels.
Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli occupation has committed crimes of genocide in the Gaza Strip, leaving more than 173,000 civilians dead or wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 11,000 missing.
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