Flour and fuel shortages in recent weeks have led to growing bread queues in Gaza, with the remaining bakeries on the brink of shutting down within the next 48 hours, Quds News Network (QNN) reported on Thursday. According to the union of bakery owners in Gaza, seven bakeries across the Gaza Strip could shut down within 48 hours because of dwindling supplies of flour and other essential materials.

Source: Quds News Network

The union's chief, Abdel Nasser al-Ajrami, warned that dwindling flour supplies have already forced bakeries to suspend operations, QNN said. Drop Site News, in its Thursday, October 22 briefing, likewise reported that Gaza faces a critical flour shortage as its remaining bakeries risk closure within 48 hours.

Source: Drop Site News

7bakeries still operating in Gaza that could shut within 48 hours, per the bakery owners' union
1.6m → 1.1mpeople helped by the World Food Programme, cut by about a third
250,000 → 150,000daily hot meals from community kitchens after the WFP cuts
2.1 millionGaza's population, nearly all displaced, QNN reported

The World Food Programme (WFP), one of the main suppliers of food aid to Gaza, said this week it is being forced to "drastically reduce lifesaving assistance" to the enclave because of funding shortages, QNN reported. The number of people the agency helps will drop by about a third, from 1.6 million to 1.1 million, and daily hot meals provided by community kitchens will be cut from 250,000 to 150,000, as winter approaches.

Nearly all of Gaza's 2.1 million population remains displaced and two-thirds rely on food aid to survive, QNN reported. "It's a disaster! What will we do with these reduced rations? How will we provide for the little ones?" said Mervat al-Satari, a displaced Palestinian mother of five at a camp in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, after she was told of the WFP's news, QNN reported.

What is solid

  • Gaza's bakery owners' union said on Thursday that seven bakeries could shut within 48 hours as flour and other essential supplies run out, QNN reported, and Drop Site News carried the same 48-hour warning in its October 22 briefing.
  • The WFP said this week it is drastically reducing assistance because of funding shortages, cutting the people it helps from 1.6 million to 1.1 million and daily hot meals from 250,000 to 150,000.
  • Union chief Abdel Nasser al-Ajrami warned that dwindling flour supplies have already forced bakeries to suspend operations.

What is only claimed

  • Why flour is running out: QNN attributes the shortages to Israeli restrictions on aid deliveries into Gaza combined with the WFP cuts; the WFP itself attributes its own reductions to funding shortages. Awaaz Punjab presents both attributions as reported, not as a settled single cause.