'Keeping people alive' Last working bakery forced to move around war-torn territory

Palestinians witnessed a large white trailer being laboriously towed through the bomb-pitted roads of southern Gaza by a red tractor this month, though it is unclear how many realised it was one of their last humanitarian lifelines in the face of a total Israeli blockade.

- Julian Borger

The trailer contained Gaza's last working bakery, forced by Israeli evacuation orders to move around the territory so it can keep functioning.

Aid workers say that the amount of bread it can produce is only a fraction of the needs of the people of Gaza.

The mobile bakery run by the World Central Kitchen (WCK) had to leave its base in Khan Younis after an edict from the Israeli army for the population of the southern city to move out to make way for military operations. Aid agencies say that such evacuation orders now apply to 65% of the territory on the Gaza Strip.

The bakery was towed to a new location near Deir al-Balah on 1 April, and two days later was producing 25,000 loaves a day. That is just a third of the bakery's capacity, but its production is limited by a shortage of flour as a result of the Israeli blockade.