For almost two months, Israel has blocked food, fuel, medicine, and other vital commodities from entering the Gaza Strip. Aid organizations are low on stock, markets are almost bare, and Palestinian families are having trouble feeding their children.
In a wide tent camp in the open just outside Khan Younis, Mariam al-Najjar and her mother-in-law cooked four cans of carrot and pea along with a wee bit of bouillon and spice over a fire of wood. This, coupled with a portion of rice, was the solitary meal on Friday for their own family of 11, comprised of six youngsters.
Among Palestinian Arabs, “Fridays are sacred,” Mariam commented, usually the occasion for ceremonial meals with a meat or stuffed vegetable. “Now we eat peas and rice,” she said. “We never used to eat canned peas prior to the war. Only during this war that ruined our lives.”
Food Shortages Hit Gaza Hard
Approximately 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza are now mainly living on canned vegetables, rice, pasta, and lentils. Fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy, meat, and fruit have nearly disappeared. Bread and eggs are luxuries that few can afford, and the little vegetables available are sold at astronomical prices, out of reach for most families.
“We can’t get anything that gives any protein or nutrients,” Mariam added.
The Israeli blockade was implemented on March 2, and military operations resumed on March 18, breaking a two-month ceasefire. Israel says the steps are to put pressure on Hamas to free hostages, but rights groups have denounced the blockade as a “starvation tactic” and a possible war crime. Gradually, product after product vanished from store shelves. First, when meat ran out, Mariam resorted to canned sardines, but they too have disappeared now. U.N. milk rations ceased weeks ago. Tomatoes, a weekly luxury, are now out of reach.
Today, the family subsists mainly on cans of beans, peas, or carrots, or receives lentils or pasta from a charity kitchen. When there is bread or sugar, Mariam feeds her children bread soaked in tea to fill their bellies. “I fear my son’s children will starve to death,” said Sumaya al-Najjar, Mariam’s mother-in-law. The 61-year-old explained that she and her husband, both suffering from cancer, are now without adequate medication.
Gaza’s Children Suffer from Severe Malnutrition
Physicians are sounding the alarm over the increasing malnutrition epidemic.
Dr. Ayman Abu Teir, director of the Therapeutic Feeding department at Khan Younis’ Nasser Hospital, reported that cases of malnutrition among children have “increased in a very substantial way.
Special milk for infants has been depleted, and the U.N. had 3,700 children with acute malnutrition in March, an 80% increase from February.
“Children need the food pyramid for their growth,” Abu Teir said, stressing the essential shortage of meat, eggs, fish, dairy, fruits, and vegetables in Gaza. He stated that a 1-year-old child needs approximately 700 calories per day. The al-Najjars’ four cans of carrots and peas that they had on Friday gave approximately 1,000 calories — not rice — to 11 family members, six of them young children.
Israel claims that there was ample aid during the ceasefire and blames Hamas for channeling supplies. Humanitarian aid workers argue this, explaining that distribution of the aid is highly controlled by the U.N.
Markets, Farms, and Kitchens Struggle to Survive
In the markets of Khan Younis, stalls are mostly empty, with small heaps of tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant that has shriveled, and onions. The only canned foods remaining are a few dented cans of beans and peas. The shelves in the grocery stores are almost bare with the exception of some pasta.
Tomatoes cost 50 shekels per kilo almost $14 now, as opposed to less than a dollar prior to the war. “I dream of being able to eat a tomato,” Khalil al-Faqawi said, surveying the bare stalls. He reported having a hard time to feed his family of nine. “The kids ask for meat, for chicken, for a cookie. We can’t offer it,” he said. “Forget meat. We’ve lentils. Terrific. Much obliged. What do we do when the lentils are finished?”
Israel’s assault has ruined Gaza’s fields. Many have been destroyed or converted into battlefields. The crops have died from shortages of water and equipment. Farmer Mahmoud al-Shaer claimed his greenhouse yield of tomatoes decreased from 600 kilos weekly to 150 kilos. “In two weeks or a month, you won’t find any at all,” he cautioned.
Since Israel launched its October 7, 2023, air and land assault on Hamas, large sections of Gaza have been left in ruins. Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 51,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children, have been murdered. The Oct. 7 Hamas attack had killed around 1,200 Israelis and 251 taken captive, with 59 hostages remaining.
In Khan Younis, children stand in line for hours at the Rafah Charity Kitchen, clutching metal pots to get small amounts of boiled lentils.
Charity kitchens are now the only dependable source of food, but they too are subject to closure.
The World Food Program said Friday it had distributed its last food supplies to the 47 kitchens that it subsidizes Gaza’s largest stating that these kitchens would be out of meals within days.
Even these kitchens now can offer nothing more than lentils or unadorned pasta and rice. “These individuals who rely on us are at risk of starvation if this kitchen is shut down,” said Hani Abu Qasim, a staff member of the Rafah Charity Kitchen.
