WFP runs out of food stocks in Gaza

• WFP says crossings into Gaza have been shut for seven weeks
• Israel denies hunger crisis, blames Hamas for aid misuse
• Trump says he has pushed Netanyahu on Gaza aid

The World Food Programme yesterday said it had run out of food stocks in Gaza due to the sustained closure of crossings into the enclave, while Gaza authorities said Israeli airstrikes had killed at least 78 people in the past 24 hours.

"The WFP has depleted all its food stocks for families in Gaza," a WFP statement said, adding the UN agency yesterday delivered its last remaining food stocks to hot meals kitchens in Gaza.

"These kitchens are expected to fully run out of food in the coming days," it added.

The agency said no humanitarian or commercial supplies had entered Gaza for more than seven weeks as all main border crossing points remained closed, resulting in the longest closure the Gaza Strip had ever faced.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump yesterday said that he pushed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow food and medicine into the devastated Gaza Strip.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump was asked whether concerns about humanitarian aid access came up in his phone call with Netanyahu earlier this week.

Israel has previously denied that Gaza is facing a hunger crisis. The military accuses the Hamas militants who have run Gaza of exploiting aid - which Hamas denies - and says it must keep all supplies out to prevent the fighters from getting it.

Since March 2, Israel completely cut off all supplies to the 2.3 million residents of the Gaza Strip, and food stockpiled during a ceasefire at the start of the year has all but run out.

WFP warned that if the aid blockage was not lifted it might be forced to end its critical assistance.

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office yesterday said that famine is no longer a looming threat and is becoming a reality.

Yesteraday, the Gaza health ministry said Israeli airstrikes killed at least 78 people in different areas of the enclave in the past 24 hours.

Residents said Israeli forces operating in Shejaia and Rafah in northern and southern Gaza blew up clusters of homes overnight.

Citing attacks initiated from those areas, the Israeli military ordered residents of Beit Hanoun and the Beit Lahiya towns to leave their homes in a post published on X by an army spokesperson late on Thursday.

The new orders caused a new wave of displacement as many families began leaving their homes in the early hours on Friday, according to witnesses.

Sources familiar with the mediation said a Hamas delegation was expected to visit Cairo on Friday to meet Egyptian officials and discuss ways to salvage stalled ceasefire talks.

Since a January ceasefire collapsed on March 18, Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,900 Palestinians, many of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced as Israel seized what it calls a buffer zone.

Since October 7, 2023, more than 51,300 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, according to health officials.