In front of the now damaged Sharq bakery, blood mixes with a bag of bread that was abandoned after an Israeli air raid targeting the area.
Thursday’s attack on Nasr Street in Gaza City left dozens injured and dead, Palestinian sources said.
Five bakeries in the Gaza Strip were directly targeted by Israeli strikes, and at least eight others suffered so much damage in nearby attacks that they were knocked out of service.
As the total siege imposed by Israel on territory already under blockade continues, food is running out and bread – a staple in Palestinian households – is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain with each passing day.
Residents now queue for hours just to get a bag of pita bread for their families, with lines starting before dawn in some areas.
Abdelnasser al-Jarmi, president of the Association of Bakery Owners in the Gaza Strip, said bakeries have limited their operations due to the lack of fuel, electricity and backup solar power for generators.
There is also a massive shortage of flour.
“The UN refugee agency had 30,000 tonnes of flour which was supposed to be distributed to refugees before the war broke out on October 7,” he said. “The bakeries took part of the flour to make bread and provide it to the population. »
Most bakeries have stopped operating, he added, due to lack of fuel and fear of being targeted.
According to Oxfam International, only about 2 percent of the food needed to feed Gaza’s 2.3 million residents has been delivered since October 7.
Starvation is being used as a weapon of war against civilians in Gaza, the group said last week, adding that almost everyone in the enclave is now food insecure, meaning they do not know with certainty where their next meal will come from.
Al-Jarmi said demand far exceeds supply and requested that fuel and flour be able to enter through the southern Rafah border crossing.
“We want a guarantee of safety to be able to resume service in our bakeries,” he said. “But now it’s an impossible situation.”