Israeli attacks kill 16 in Gaza as aid kitchens shut after supplies run out

‘We have no more food to prepare,’ warns World Central Kitchen as it halts food aid operations amid Israeli blockade.

Palestinian men mourn over a body wrapped in a blanket at the al-Ahli Arab Hospital, also known as the Baptist Hospital, on May 7, 2025 following an Israeli strike in Gaza City [Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP]

Published On 8 May 20258 May 2025

Israeli air strikes have killed at least 12 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, following a deadly 24-hour period in which more than 100 people lost their lives, according to medical officials.

New strikes on Thursday killed at least three people in separate attacks in Deir el-Balah and the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, Al Jazeera Arabic reported, quoting medical sources. In Shujayea, east of Gaza City, shelling killed another person and wounded several others.

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Further north, Israeli warplanes targeted a home in Beit Lahiya, killing five, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. Rescuers were still searching for a woman believed to be trapped beneath the rubble.

The attack site in Beit Lahiya was “full of displaced people”, said Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City.

“The owner of this residential home and the people he hosted as displaced people were killed inside this residential home. Many others were reported with severe injuries and burns, transferred to the Indonesian Hospital, which is already overwhelmed.

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“One single family just lost nine family members, including women and children, and more people are missing and trapped under the rubble,” added Mahmoud.

In Khan Younis, one girl was killed and four others wounded after Israeli artillery hit tents sheltering displaced families in the western part of the city.

The continuing assault on Gaza comes amid growing alarm that Israel’s total blockade of aid is pushing the enclave into famine.

A Palestinian man embraces the body of his five-year-old son who was killed in an overnight Israeli air strike on a UN school used as a shelter, in the central Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, May 7, 2025 [Abdel Kareem Hana/AP]

‘We have no more food’

Israel’s blockade on Gaza – tightened on March 2 – has pushed the population deeper into crisis, cutting off aid and crippling humanitarian relief. On Wednesday, World Central Kitchen (WCK), one of the key food providers in Gaza, announced it had halted all cooking operations.

“We have no more food to prepare,” the aid group said, after exhausting flour and other basic supplies needed to run its soup kitchens and mobile bakeries. WCK had been providing at least 130,000 meals and 80,000 loaves of bread daily.

“The trucks are ready in Egypt, Jordan and Israel,” said WCK founder Jose Andres. “But they cannot move without permission. Humanitarian aid must be allowed to flow.”

The World Food Programme previously warned its food stocks in Gaza had run dry, ending a vital lifeline for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. The continuing blockade, aid agencies say, has accelerated the onset of famine. Malnutrition is now widespread, with humanitarian workers warning they can no longer treat or prevent hunger-related illnesses.

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Rights groups have condemned the blockade as a “starvation tactic” and argue it may constitute a war crime.

Sean Carroll, president of American Near East Refugee Aid, told Al Jazeera that Gaza’s humanitarian crisis has reached a critical point, with aid deliveries plummeting. “We were delivering nearly a million meals a week, and we’ve only delivered a few thousand in the past 66 days,” he said, noting that stocks are depleted.

“I think governments have to use every diplomatic lever, every political lever, every economic lever to convince all parties that there needs to be a return to some semblance of delivering humanitarian aid. We are losing our humanity here,” added Carroll.

Scenes at the few remaining open aid centres are increasingly chaotic. Children, women and men jostle for shrinking rations as food distribution systems break down. Bakeries have shut and fuel shortages have left water distribution networks paralysed.

Israel threatens Iran

Elsewhere, tensions have flared beyond Gaza, with Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warning Iran that it could face the same fate as Hamas and Hezbollah. His remarks followed a Houthi drone attack near Israel’s Ben Gurion airport.

“You are directly responsible,” Katz said on Thursday. “What we have done to Hezbollah in Beirut, to Hamas in Gaza, we will do to you in Tehran, too.”

Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched a ballistic missile that struck near Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv on Sunday, saying the attack was in support of Palestinians in Gaza.

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The strike disrupted flights and prompted Israel to launch air strikes on Sanaa’s international airport and power stations in Houthi-controlled areas, killing at least one and injuring dozens, according to Houthi reports.

Iran denied backing the Houthi assault. Despite a United States-Houthi ceasefire mediated by Oman on Tuesday, ensuring “freedom of navigation” in the Red Sea, Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree said, “We will carry out more military operations against the Israeli enemy,” targeting Israel and its ships.

Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies