In the south of the Gaza Strip, the "flour emergency" has been triggered. An Israeli cannon shot hit the facilities of the last mill still in operation, that of 'a-Salam' in Deir el-Balah. It was the only one left to be able to produce bread and feed residents and displaced people. "For the moment we are blocked," its director Abed Aldaim Awad told ANSA, "and the damage is severe. Without spare machinery from abroad, we will not be able to resume and work." In recent weeks, hundreds of thousands of people from the north of the Strip and Gaza City have arrived in the area at the behest of the Israeli armed forces. Seven hundred thousand are now in facilities of UNRWA, the UN refugee agency. Many others have found shelter in private homes. These masses of people have been added to about a million permanent residents in the south of the Strip. And for everyone, stocks are now running out. "There are two other mills in this area, but they have run out of fuel and can't work," Awad said. The 'a-Salam' plant, on the other hand, has fuel stocks. But in mid-October, it was already hit by a shell from a tank that damaged one of the two production lines. Now the second one has also been damaged and the work is paralyzed. Employees stand silently and darkly in the face at the entrance of the plant.
And some merchants, who have come from nearby towns, try in vain to buy any stocks of flour on the spot. The bakers in the area have still stored some supplies, but when they too are finished, it will no longer be possible to produce bread. "To get back on track," Awad continues, "we would need to be able to introduce not only machinery into Gaza, but also have specialized technicians." At the moment, only international humanitarian aid trucks, inspected by Israel, can pass through the Rafah crossing (between Egypt and Gaza). These are water, medicines and various canned goods: but in insufficient quantities to meet the needs of the population. "Even when the machinery came in," Awad continues, "we would need at least three days of work. There is a risk of a humanitarian catastrophe here. We hope at least that the International Red Cross can come to our aid." Meanwhile, markets in the south of the Strip are also on the brink of a crisis. This is due to evacuation orders, motovat for security reasons, distributed with leaflets by the Israeli army to the inhabitants of the agricultural localities of Khuzaa, Abasan, Bani Suheila and Karara. It is not excluded that the army will soon decide to operate in those areas as well. The fear is that, if this were the case, the supply of fresh produce to the fruit and vegetable markets in the area would also gradually cease.
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