Turkish Red Crescent provides hot meals to 15,000 people per day in central Gaza

By Serdar Dincel

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Turkish Red Crescent has boosted the capacity of its soup kitchen in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, distributing hot meals to 15,000 people daily in the embattled enclave.

"The Red Crescent, which moved its soup kitchen in Gaza to the Deir al-Balah region due to the conflict in the Rafah region and made it operational again, provides hot meals to 15,000 people a day," the aid group said in a statement on Tuesday.

Highlighting that the group has been in discussions with all sides for alternative routes to deliver much-needed aid, the statement added: "The Turkish Red Crescent will continue to stand by the Palestinian people."

Due to the lack of bottled gas in the region, local Red Crescent staff uses wood collected from the rubble of destroyed structures to boil water, and the meals cooked in the soup kitchen are delivered to the needy people in Gaza in large boilers.

Despite the challening conditions, the Turkish Red Crescent continued its activities and made extraordinary efforts to boost the capacity of its soup kitchen in Deir al-Balah from 10,000 to 15,000 people per day.

Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 37,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and nearly 85,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.