Garlic simmers in huge metal pots heated over open wood fires and set up in a long line.
Cooks add canned tomatoes and peppers with handfuls of spices, stirring the sauce with giant spoons.
What is being prepared here is not just lunch, it is a lifeline.
American Near East Refugee Aid (Anera) opened this community kitchen in al-Zawayda in central Gaza after the ceasefire began six weeks ago.
The US humanitarian organisation has another kitchen in al-Mawasi in the south of the strip, which the BBC visited in early May.
