Many in Gaza eat just once a day as hunger spreads amid aid woes

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Yasmin Eid coughs and covers her face, cooking a small pot of lentils over a fire fed by twigs and scrap paper in the tent she shares with her husband and four young daughters. Gaza Strip.

This was their only meal on Wednesday; It was all they could afford.

“My daughters suck their thumbs because they are very hungry, and I caress their backs until they fall asleep,” he said.

After being displaced five timesEid is in central Gaza, where aid groups have relatively greater access than in the north, which has been largely isolated and largely destroyed since Israel launched a renewed offensive against the militant group Hamas in early October. But almost everyone in Gaza I’m starving these days. In the north, experts say There may be a complete famine.

The International Criminal Court on Thursday issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, accusing them of using weapons. “Starvation as a method of warfare” – accusations that Israel categorically denies.

In Deir al-Balah, Eid is one of hundreds of thousands of people sheltering in squalid tent camps. Local bakeries closed for five days this week. The price of a bag of bread rose to more than $13 on Wednesday as bread and flour disappeared from shelves before more supplies arrived.

The United Nations humanitarian office has warned of a “drastic increase” in the number of households experiencing severe hunger in central and southern Gaza. It turned out to be related Robbery of nearly 100 aid trucks at gunpoint It took place last weekend in southern Gaza, close to Israeli military positions. Israel blamed Hamas but appeared to take no steps to stop the looting, while Hamas said it was the work of local thugs.

Help groups say Looting is one of many obstacles delivering food and other vital aid to the region’s 2.3 million Palestinians. They also have to deal with Israeli restrictions on movement, ongoing conflict, and heavy damage caused by Israeli bombing of roads and critical infrastructure.

Yasmin and her family have been going hungry for months.

“The price of everything has increased, we can’t buy anything,” he said. “We always sleep without dinner.”

He misses coffee, but a single packet of Nescafe costs around $1.30. One kilogram (2 pounds) of onions sells for $10, and a medium bottle of cooking oil sells for $15 (if available). Meat and chicken disappeared from the market months ago, but there are still some local vegetables. Such sums reach astronomical figures in a poor region where few people earn a regular income.

While crowds of hundreds of people wait for hours to receive food from aid agencies, they too are struggling.

Hani Almadhoun, co-founder of Gaza Soup Kitchen, said their team can only serve small bowls of rice or pasta a day. “They might go to the grocery store one day and buy something for $5, and then come back in the afternoon and find it has doubled or tripled in price,” he said.

His kitchen in the central town of Zuweida operated on a daily budget of about $500 for most of the war. When the amount of aid arriving in Gaza dropped in October, its cost rose to $1,300 per day. It can feed about half of the 1,000 families who line up every day.

Israel says it has no limits on the amount of aid entering Gaza and in recent weeks has announced a series of measures it says are aimed at increasing the flow, including the opening of a new crossing point. Pointing to hundreds of truckloads of it rotting on the Gaza side of the border, he blames UN agencies for failing to take it back.

But the military’s own figures show the amount of aid entering Gaza dropped to around 1,800 trucks in October. This figure was above 4,200 trucks in the previous month. At the current entry rate, approximately 2,400 trucks will enter Gaza in November. Before the war, about 500 trucks entered every day.

The UN says less than half of the truckloads have been distributed due to ongoing fighting, Israeli refusal of requests to move and a breakdown of law and order. Hamas-run police disappeared in many areas after being targeted in Israeli airstrikes.

The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters raided Israel, killing nearly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping around 250. About 100 hostages remain in Gaza, at least a third of them dead, and Hamas Militants have repeatedly regrouped after Israeli operations and carried out hit-and-run attacks from tunnels and bombed buildings.

According to local health authorities, Israel’s retaliatory strike killed more than 44,000 Palestinians, more than half of whom were women and children; However, it does not say how many of those killed were combatants.

The United States warned Israel in October that it might be forced to cut some of its vital military support if Israel did not rapidly increase the amount of aid entering Gaza. However, after the 30-day ultimatum expired, the Biden administration refused to take any actionHe said some progress had been made.

Meanwhile Israel adopted legislation Cutting ties with UNRWA. Israel accuses the agency of allowing Hamas to infiltrate it; allegations rejected by the UN

Israeli news sources reported that officials were considering plans for the military to take over aid distribution or outsource it to private security companies. “Israel is seeking many creative solutions to ensure a better future for Gaza,” government spokesman David Mercer said when asked about such plans on Wednesday.

Former defense minister Yoav Gallant, who was seen as a voice of moderation in the far-right government before being fired this month, warned that outsourcing aid distribution in X to a private firm was a “euphemism”. beginning of military rule.”

While this debate continues in Jerusalem, less than 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the center of Gaza, most Palestinians in the area are focused on survival. a war with no end in sight.

“I have a hard time explaining the pain we are experiencing. I am ashamed to talk about it,” said Yasmin’s husband Hani. “What can I tell you? “I am someone who has 21 family members and cannot give them a bag of flour.”

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Khalid reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

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