In the nearly eight months since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, the World Central Kitchen (WCK) estimates its teams have provided more than 50 million meals by land, air and sea to starving Palestinian families in Gaza.
The non-profit says it has established three field kitchens, built a network of more than 70 community kitchens, opened a maritime aid corridor,and participated in air drops.
Palestinians working in the field kitchens cook tens of thousands of meals daily for families sheltering in makeshift camps and for patients and staff at a dozen medical facilities across Gaza, reported WCK.
Israeli drones targeted a three-car World Central Kitchen aid convoy on April 1, 2024 despite coordinating their route with the Israeli military.
Seven aid workers were killed and the charity temporarily suspended operations.
On May 21, the Rafah-based field kitchen was forced to shut down due to evacuation orders by the IDF.
Prior to halting operations, the WCK revealed the kitchen was producing up to 50,000 meals daily.
"We come early in the morning with all seriousness and energy," said Ramadan, one of the Palestinian chefs who was working in the Rafah kitchen.
"Our goal is to alleviate the burden of the displaced and lift them toward better days."
The two remaining field kitchens are in Deir al-Balah and Al-Mawasi and continue to scale up their meal counts in an attempt to meet the growing need.
The Al-Mawasi location has become known as Damian's kitchen, named after one of the seven aid workers killed in Israel's attack.
Their ability to cook at scale relies heavily on a steady flood of humanitarian aid trucks from the organization's warehouse in Cairo, Egypt.
Israeli forces have often restricted and shutting off access to deliver aid. The group says it dramatically reduces the capacity of all humanitarian organizations working in Gaza.
Recently the WCK said 150 of their trucks were stranded at the border, unable to enter Gaza.
After weeks of unreliable aid access, nearly 100 trucks were able to reach Gaza last week with food and other supplies like cooking pellets.
"We are using close to ten tons of these pellets per day for our kitchen burners, so this resupply was crucial," said John, WCK's response lead for Gaza, who is in Cairo.
"For reference, ten tons is equal to half of a flatbed truck, which is a tremendous amount of work to move from Cairo to our Gaza kitchens on a daily basis."
