At the break of dawn, 10-year-old Youssef al-Najjar races barefoot, clutching a battered pot, to a community kitchen in Gaza City, only to find hundreds of others already queueing.

“People push and shove out of fear of missing their turn. There are little children who fall,” said Youssef, his voice barely rising above a whisper.

Thousands of Gazans, including many children, rush to community kitchens every day in the hope of securing food for their families.

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has worsened significantly since Israel blocked all aid from entering the territory on March 2, days before resuming its military campaign following the collapse of a ceasefire.

Supplies are dwindling and the UN’s World Food Programme on Friday said it had sent out its “last remaining food stocks” to kitchens.

The weight of responsibility fell on Youssef’s shoulders after his father was killed in the war.

He dreams not of toys or games, but of something achingly simple: to sit at a table with his mother and sister, eating peacefully.

For that, each morning, he races to the community kitchen.

“Sometimes, in the chaos, my pot slips from my hands, and the food spills onto the ground,” he told AFP.

“I return home empty-handed... and that pain is worse than hunger.”

AFP footage from a community kitchen in Gaza City shows scores of boys and girls crowded outside the facility, pushing their pots and pans forward in a desperate attempt to secure whatever food they can.

One young man is even seen hitting a boy with a metal pot as he approaches a container of freshly-cooked rice.