Leading aid group shuts down soup kitchens across Gaza amid blockade by Israel

Palestinian children and women struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP)

Israel’s ongoing blockade of humanitarian assistance for Gaza has forced a leading aid group to shut its community soup kitchens, as it faced empty warehouses and no replenishment of supplies in the war-battered enclave.

World Central Kitchen was serving 133,000 meals per day and baking 80,000 loaves of bread over the past few weeks, but said it was forced to suspend operations since there is almost no food left in Gaza for the organisation to cook.