At dawn each day, 86-year-old Jadallah Masran leaves his tent in a displacement camp in eastern Al-Bureij and joins the queue at the nearest bakery. Once, bread was delivered to him. Now he must wait in line for hours.
"All that comes is pasta, beans and lentils," Masran told Euronews. "They used to bring bread but stopped completely."
Masran is one of hundreds of thousands of displaced people in Gaza who now depend on charity kitchens — known locally as takaya — as their primary source of food. According to the latest estimates by the World Food Programme and the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, covering April and May 2026, around 1.6 million people — roughly 77% of the population — are facing high levels of acute food insecurity.
Community Kitchens: A Lifeline Running on Empty
These kitchens, which keep people alive, operate only once or twice a week in many areas. Meals consist of lentils, pasta, and mashed beans. Meat and fresh vegetables have almost entirely disappeared.
"The charity kitchen brings rice and meat maybe one or two days a week, but mostly it's lentils and beans," said Abdullah Zagout, displaced from Al-Shati Refugee Camp. "If they came two or three times a week and the food was cleaner, that would be better. What can people do? We're sick of lentils."
Hassan al-Azzazi, displaced from eastern Al-Bureij, said the monotony had pushed some people to stop eating entirely. "They bring lentils, pasta, mashed beans and bulgur. Maybe once every week or two they bring meat and rice. People get sick of legumes, to the point where food gets thrown away."
Yet for others, lentils remain a blessing. "There was a time we couldn't even find them, and we risked death just to feed our children," said Luay Sahmoud, displaced from eastern Gaza. "It's mercy for us, but couldn't they at least add some meat on top of the rice in the big pot?"
Bread, once affordable, has tripled in price. "When the charity kitchen comes, it comes with suffering," said Nasser Farwana from Rafah. "Sometimes it only comes once a week. Before, we paid 1 shekel for bread. Now we pay 3 shekels and struggle at the bakery just to get it."
Aid Flows Plummet, Funding Dries Up
Humanitarian aid deliveries fell 37% between the first and second periods following the October 2025 ceasefire — from more than 167,600 metric tonnes in the first three months after the truce to fewer than 105,000 metric tonnes between January and April of this year. The UN's humanitarian coordination office OCHA attributed the decline to reduced crossing operations, increased cargo returns, scanning malfunctions, and other impediments.
Four months into 2026, only 10% of the funding required for critical humanitarian operations this year has been secured. The World Food Programme reports it is reaching more than 1 million people each month through all food channels — including parcels, bread bundles, and school meals — but that still falls short of the needs of a displaced population of 1.5 million.
According to a joint assessment by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, UNICEF, the World Food Programme, and the World Health Organisation, published in December 2025, more than 100,000 children under five are projected to suffer acute malnutrition through April 2026 — up from an earlier estimate of 71,000 issued in May 2025. No child between six and 23 months old is currently receiving the minimum required dietary diversity, and around two-thirds of children are suffering from severe food poverty.
Disputed Responsibility for Aid Diversion
Israel has accused Hamas of stealing aid convoys intended for civilians, alleging that the group used aid to finance fighters, imposed levies on merchants, and ran a parallel distribution market. Hamas has not publicly responded to those specific claims.
In August 2025, the BBC reported, citing Gazan sources, that significant portions of humanitarian aid had been diverted by Hamas and sold at inflated prices or distributed to loyalists. Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas also stated that Hamas-affiliated gangs were "primarily responsible" for looting from aid warehouses.
However, the picture is not uniform. Senior IDF officials told the New York Times in July 2025 that they found no evidence Hamas had regularly stolen from UN operations, which provided the largest share of aid. USAID also found no evidence of Hamas significantly benefiting from US-funded supplies.
The crisis in Gaza underscores broader challenges for humanitarian operations in conflict zones, a topic that has drawn attention from European policymakers. The EU Expert Warns of Imminent Health Crisis in Venezuela After Twin Earthquakes highlights similar concerns about aid access and funding shortfalls. Meanwhile, the Europe's Water Crisis Deepens: Which Countries Are Most at Risk? shows how resource scarcity affects even the continent's most developed nations.
