Chef José Andrés, founder of World Central Kitchen, describes his trip late last week to Gaza, where he surveyed his aid group's efforts to provide food to Palestinians. "We need to make sure that we are cooking where people live. We need to make sure that we are feeding them where people are," Andrés said.

Jerusalem

Israel and Iran have agreed a ceasefire after a twelve day conflict. Meanwhile, Israel strikes in Gaza continue with the humanitarian crisis deepening.

Middle East Conflict

José Andrés, founder of World Central Kitchen, recently visited Gaza to assess the humanitarian situation and the operations of his organization's kitchens. He reported that while some food aid is reaching people, it is insufficient to meet the needs of the population, with many still facing severe shortages.

Andrés emphasized the need for a significant increase in aid deliveries and improved logistics to ensure food and other essentials reach those in need. He noted that although more trucks are now entering Gaza, the scale of assistance remains inadequate, and called for greater access for humanitarian organizations to prevent further starvation.

José Andrés on what he saw on recent trip to Gaza

We turn now to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry reports that the total number of starvation-related deaths has now risen to 250, including 110 children, seven of those deaths in the last 24 hours. World Central Kitchen founder Jose Andres joins us this morning from Jerusalem. He visited Gaza late last week. Good morning. JOSE ANDRES, Founder, World Central Kitchen, Gaza, Israel, United Nations General Assembly It is rare to get a look inside of Gaza. The IDF does not allow journalists in to freely report, but they let you in. What did you see? It was a day trip. I was able to go early in the day and leave before sunset. And I visited our main, one of our two main kitchens inside Gaza, in Deir el-Bala. And I was able to visit the few warehouses we have there, the bakery, the kitchens, and spending a day trying to see what else the teams need, what else we need to be doing, how we are going to be increasing the hot food and bread that we are producing right now. So, it was a day, again, to show support, to see on my own and assess the situation of our own kitchens. And that's what I have to report about that. The U.N. says that there is starvation happening in Gaza. Israel's prime minister says there is no starvation. What's real? Obviously, there is always a gray area, but we are making boxes for children that we know they are in very special need situation. I saw those boxes being made with the name of every one of the children. We need to remember that, during many weeks, no food was going inside Gaza. And this is two million people. So, in the places we know we are feeding, we are doing around 200,000 meals a day, but this is only 10 percent of the need. That's what we are trying to increase. I can say that, where we are, obviously, people are being fed, at the very minimum. It's not everything they should be receiving, but, at the very least, they are receiving a piece of bread and a piece of food. But we need much more aid. We need to make sure that the aid is never interrupted again. We need to make sure that the flow of trucks keeps happening. We need to make sure that we have safe roads, so those trucks can reach their intended delivery place. We need to make sure that all the NGOs that are actively trying to do the best they can to take care of people inside Gaza, and this is beyond food, obviously, medicines, et cetera, et cetera. We need to make sure that the aid is massive enough that we don't get to those moments where, in some areas, like in the north, that is still very difficult to reach, that we know that people are desperate for food. You mentioned, for many weeks, no food was allowed in. That was a government policy. There was a blockade for many months. That is now lifted, officially. But, as you say, your organization wants to scale up. You are trying to produce one million meals a day in Gaza. Can you get the fuel in to do that? Can you get the food in? Are Israeli officials giving you a green light? Well, it's a million, because we are an organization that specializes in emergencies and in food, but obviously we are requesting that all the NGOs that are participating in feeding are given more access, including us and other organizations, like ANERA, which was one of the organizations we worked with. They've been in Gaza for many, many decades, and many years. We need to make sure that everybody has access. For that, we need a lot of things. The trucks inside Gaza, we need to remember that the trucks come from outside Gaza, and there they are put aside. And then we need to reload the trucks that are inside Gaza. This takes time. We need more trucks inside, so the trucking company can have enough people and enough trucks to have a constant flow. I have to report that yes, I saw a good flow of trucks going in, around 150 to 250 trucks are going in every day. But even I will say that this is not enough. We need to make sure that we massively increase, that we massively make sure that nobody has to be walking for miles to try to reach a place where they can find a plate of food or use a bag of rice. We need to make sure, like what World Central Kitchen does. At one moment, we had 100 to 100 kitchen partners. We need to make sure that we are cooking where people live. We need to make sure that we are feeding them where people are, so that people don't have to be, again, leaving their neighborhoods, leaving their tents, and walking for hours back and forth only to try to bring a little bit of food back home. Jose Andres, thank you very much for your time this morning.

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José Andrés on what he saw on recent trip to Gaza

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