Hundreds of Palestinians crowd bakery in Gaza to buy bread amid acute food shortage

Recent heartbreaking scenes from northern Gaza show large crowds of Palestinian men and women desperately struggling to get bread from a bakery, depicting the severe hunger crisis amid the Israeli military offensive.

Videos and images circulating on social media show the plight of innocent civilians, with some climbing the bakery gate in a desperate attempt to feed their children.

Palestinians are forced to starve amid an acute shortage of flour, with many waiting for hours outside bakeries under the scorching sun, hoping to secure a few loaves for their families.

Men and women were seen pushing through the massive crowd to obtain even a few pieces of bread.

“Bakeries used to operate round the clock, but now they are running at half capacity,” the owner of Al-Banna bakery told CNN.

“Our clothes are soaked in sweat, all for a loaf of bread. This isn’t a life,” a 60-year-old Palestinian man lamented.

Humanitarian aid has not entered northern Gaza since October 1, leaving essential supplies dangerously depleted.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has warned that 2.3 million Palestinians are at risk of famine “due to relentless bombardments, escalating violence, severely damaged cropland, and a lack of humanitarian access.”

People are struggling to obtain even a loaf of bread in Deir al-Balah.

Everyone in the #Gaza Strip is facing a risk of famine due to unabated bombardments, intensifying violence, severely damaged cropland & lack of humanitarian access.

A #CeasefireNow is needed more than ever. pic.twitter.com/tMOrKo96bE

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) October 25, 2024

The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Michael Fakhri, submitted a report in September to the UN General Assembly, detailing how the food shortage and deplorable hygienic conditions in the besieged enclave pose a serious threat to the lives of Palestinians amid the Israeli military offensive.

“Israel’s ‘starvation campaign’ in Gaza is killing more people than bombs and bullets,” the report said.

The findings of the report highlighted that the destruction of Gaza's food supply chain, agricultural land, ports, and fishing vessels completely cut off all sources of food for Palestinians.

“In turn, Israel then used humanitarian aid as a political and military weapon to harm and kill the Palestinian people in Gaza,” the report read.