Gaza's last working flour mill warns of 'catastrophe'

STORY: A crowd formed outside the Al-Sallam mill, one of the biggest in Gaza and located in the center of the strip, some desperate to find food as Israel's weeks-long offensive against Hamas in the enclave reduced supplies. People were on average queuing for 4-6 hours to receive half the normal bread ration.

The mill once had 50 employees working to produce 360 tonnes of flour daily on several production lines, but due to a shortage of electricity brought on by the war, they could only power one line for 12 hours a day using a generator. The mill's general director said while they had enough wheat for a month's worth of processing, they only had fuel until Thursday (November 16).

The U.N. humanitarian office (OCHA) on Monday (November 13) said Gaza has wheat supplies that should be sufficient for 12 days, but the only operative mill in the enclave cannot transform the wheat into flour due to electricity outages. It said there were no stocks left of vegetable oil, pulses, sugar or rice.