A bread shortage in Gaza is worsening as Israeli restrictions on the entry of supplies continue to affect bakeries that had reopened following an October ceasefire.
The flow of aid and food supplies, including from the World Food Program (WFP), has declined further over the past month, amid Israeli measures that coincided with the outbreak of war with Iran.
Officials from Hamas accuse Israel of deliberately reducing aid as part of what they describe as a policy of “engineering starvation.”
Long queues at distribution points across Gaza underscore the difficulty of obtaining bread, with scuffles reported among residents vying for a single daily bundle.
Saed al-Laham, 41, from Al-Shati Camp west of Gaza City, said he spends more than three hours each day waiting in line for one bundle of bread, not enough for his family of six.
“Many times, I return to my tent, where I live with my family after our home was destroyed, without getting any bread because supplies run out and quantities are decreasing day by day,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Flour is also increasingly scarce. A 20-kilogram sack that sold for about 20 shekels a month ago has surged to 140 shekels in recent days, he revealed.
Gaza is facing multiple crises alongside the bread shortage, including a sharp decline in already rationed cooking gas supplies. Distribution has slowed to once every three months instead of every six weeks, while firewood and other basic means of preparing food are largely unavailable.
Riham Salem, 52, from the Al-Nasser neighborhood in Gaza City, described similar struggles. She said she is forced, like many women, to vie with men in crowded lines to secure bread for her family of nine.
She has one sack of flour but cannot use it due to high firewood prices and the lack of gas and electricity.
Hassan Abu Riyala, deputy economy minister in the Hamas-run government, said Saturday that international support for bread production in Gaza had fallen by more than 60 percent, reducing daily output.
He noted that the territory consumes about 450 tons of flour per day. The WFP had been supplying 350 tons, but deliveries have dropped to about 200 tons in recent months.
“Israel controls the entry of goods and aid, allowing only limited quantities, including commercial flour, leading to a sharp decline in essential supplies,” he stated.
The WFP had been providing flour and diesel fuel to more than 30 contracted bakeries across Gaza, about 28 of which are still operating. But the drop in supplies is raising fears of renewed famine conditions, particularly as flour distribution to households by international and Arab organizations has largely stopped due to Israeli restrictions at border crossings.
Sources in the Hamas-run government and civil society groups said WFP officials had informed bakery owners they could no longer provide diesel to keep bakeries running, suggesting they import flour through private traders — a process also constrained by Israeli controls.
The Hamas-run government media office accused Israel of imposing a “total siege” on Gaza as part of a deliberate and escalating policy of “engineering starvation,” by tightly controlling the flow of essential goods, especially bread.
In a statement Sunday, it said the World Central Kitchen had halted its flour support entirely after previously supplying 20 to 30 tons of bread daily. It added that the World Food Program had reduced flour deliveries from 300 to 200 tons per day, while other organizations had also suspended bread and flour assistance, worsening the crisis.
About 30 bakeries are currently producing roughly 133,000 bundles of bread daily, including 48,000 distributed free and 85,000 sold at subsidized prices through 142 outlets. These quantities fall far short of demand, the statement read.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said continued restrictions on aid, including flour, are a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire agreement, which stipulated specific aid volumes that Israel has allowed only partially.
Separately, the “Global Sumud Flotilla,” a pro-Palestinian activist convoy, postponed its planned departure Sunday from Barcelona to Gaza due to bad weather, organizers said. The vessels will temporarily move to a nearby port until conditions improve.
Around 40 boats had been scheduled to depart Barcelona as part of a renewed attempt to reach Gaza, following a similar mission last year.
