Gaza's Food Kitchens Struggle Despite Ceasefire: A Lifeline Amidst Scarcity

Wed Nov 26 2025 04:44:27 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Even after a ceasefire, community kitchens in Gaza are facing critical shortages of essential food products, leaving many residents in dire need. Food insecurity and limited access to proteins challenge ongoing humanitarian efforts.

As ceasefire efforts continue in Gaza, community kitchens like those operated by Anera in al-Zuwayda are providing vital meals to displaced families. However, essential ingredients like meat and chicken are still severely restricted, limiting the nutritional value of the meals. Many families continue to rely on these kitchens for their daily sustenance, as the humanitarian situation remains precarious with ongoing food shortages and high prices in local markets.

Garlic simmers in huge metal pots heated over open wood fires and set up in a long line. Cooks add canned tomatoes and peppers with handfuls of spices, stirring the sauce with giant spoons. What is being prepared here is not just lunch, it is a lifeline.

American Near East Refugee Aid (Anera) opened this community kitchen in al-Zawayda in central Gaza after the ceasefire began six weeks ago. The US humanitarian organisation has another kitchen in al-Mawasi in the south of the strip, which the BBC visited in early May. Back then, two months into an Israeli blockade, preventing the entry of all food and other goods, stocks were dwindling. Now, with more food allowed to enter, the situation has improved.

Each day, Anera feeds a hot meal to more than 20,000 people. 'We have moved from using 15 pots in the past, and now we increased to up to 120 pots in a day, targeting more than 30 internally displaced people's camps,' says team leader Sami Matar. 'We're serving more than 4,000 families compared to just 900 families six months ago.'

Access to food has been a constant concern since the start of the war in October 2023, with Israel heavily restricting supplies allowed through Gaza's crossings. This has exacerbated the dire humanitarian situation. Famine was confirmed in Gaza City in August and projected to spread to other areas of the strip. The UN continues to call for more aid to be allowed in.

On the menu today is spaghetti served with canned vegetables and tomato sauce and flavoured with generous handfuls of spices. Sami gives an approving nod as he tastes a spoonful. However, while Anera is managing to get access to more food, brought into Gaza by its partner, the US humanitarian organisation World Central Kitchen, there are still vital ingredients missing to improve people's diets. 'We need the food to be more diverse, to secure fresh vegetables and essential proteins like meat and chicken,' he goes on. 'Those essentials are not allowed to enter Gaza for humanitarian aid distribution.'

Aid agencies are pushing for Israel to open up all five crossing points into Gaza; currently only three are operating. They also want restrictions to be eased on the operations of some established humanitarian organisations caused by Israeli registration issues so that they can bring in their own supplies.

With the onset of cold, wet weather, life has been getting harder. Aid workers like Sami Matar do their best to help those living in the camps. 'The conversations we have with the families in the camps are heartbreaking,' he says. They see no clear path to return to their homes. They worry how to keep their children warm and fed. After the UN Security Council provisionally approved the Trump blueprint for Gaza, people are waiting to see what happens next, aware of the fragile ceasefire but desperately needing it to stick.