![\"Um](\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/screen-shot-2024-05-03-at-7-52-54-am.jpg?q=w_1110,c_fill\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nUm Hassan (second from right) is pictured eating food provided by World Central Kitchen on May 1, in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza. The mother told CNN her toddler (center) is “happy to eat rice.” CNN<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The World Central Kitchen, a US-based non-profit that focuses on fighting hunger around the world, resumed work in Gaza this week, after a hiatus following a series of Israeli military strikes<\/a> that killed seven staffers in April and drew the world\u2019s condemnation. Israeli forces have previously taken responsibility<\/a> for the deaths, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offering rare public acknowledgment and a promise to investigate the \u201ctragic incident.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n World Central Kitchen founder Jose Andres wrote on Wednesday that returning to Gaza after losing his staff was not easy, but that the organization could not \u201cstand by\u201d as people in Gaza suffered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe decision\u2026 to restart feeding in Gaza is both the hardest and the simplest one we could make,\u201d Andres wrote on X. \u201cHard, because only a month has passed since seven of our WCK colleagues were killed in an IDF attack. These humanitarian heroes risked everything to feed people they did not know and would never meet. And yet simple, because the need is so great. We cannot stand by while so many people are so desperate for the essentials of life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Human rights agencies have long warned of a spiraling humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza under Israel\u2019s military\u2019s seven-month assault, launched in response to the Hamas-led October 7 terror attacks<\/a>. More than 34,600 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza as of May 1, according to the local ministry of health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Over the course of the war, more than 1.9 million Palestinians have been forcibly displaced, according to the UN, with many sheltering in crammed tent camps that cannot offer enough access to sanitation or food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The entire population of more than 2.2 million people is now at risk of famine<\/a>, and at least 30 children have already died of malnutrition and dehydration in Gaza, according to the health ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zaki Sobeh (right), a young Palestinian boy, pictured at a shelter in Deir al-Balah, on Wednesday, told CNN he had not received a hot meal in over a month. CNN<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n A local WCK staffer, Ashraf Al Sultan, told CNN on Wednesday that people in the Deir al-Balah shelter were clearly struggling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSince yesterday after we resumed working, we could see people\u2019s desperation. People have no food, and we\u2019ve all been displaced,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c[The World Central Kitchen\u2019s] food makes people feel that they are at home. It is decent food, it is clean. They also treat people well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI haven\u2019t received a hot meal for a month because the kitchen team was struck. We only had canned food,\u201d Zaki Sobeh, a young boy at the displacement site, told CNN after receiving his plate of food on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI say thank you and may God protect them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Human rights organizations have repeatedly warned that<\/a> Israel\u2019s strict limitations on passage into Gaza is diminishing critical supplies and drastically hindering relief efforts within the Palestinian territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In March, the United Nations\u2019 human rights chief, Volker T\u00fcrk, warned<\/a> Israel\u2019s sustained restrictions on aid into Gaza may amount to the war crime of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Zaki](\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/screen-shot-2024-05-03-at-7-50-58-am.jpg?q=w_1110,c_fill\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nA desperate need for more aid<\/h2>\n\n\n\n