Israel’s ‘War Of Starvation’: Gaza’s Food Is Running Out
Samar Rabie is wondering how she is going to feed the 15 people living with her. The mother of four has been hosting her husband’s friends and their families, who were displaced from Gaza City, in her home in Khan Younis, and is struggling to find basic items like bread.
“I went to one of the malls to buy some things, but I did not find anything,” the 28-year-old says.
The shelves are empty, with no sugar, legumes, cheese or any other kind of dairy products.
“There is only cooking oil,” Rabie says, pointing out that the price of food has tripled since the war began. “We are being deprived of many staple foodstuffs, as if everything was arranged so that in addition to not having electricity or water, we would be starved.”
Due to the lack of bread, the family and friends have relied on cooking pasta and rice, but supplies of those are drying up rapidly as well.
“I’m just worried about how we will feed each other after two or three days, and what we will live on in these difficult days that are increasingly suffocating us,” Rabie says.
Mahmoud Sharab, also a resident of Khan Younis, says that although he is dismayed by the increasing prices, he doesn’t blame grocers for the inflation when it comes to vegetables.
“Their farms have been destroyed by the constant Israeli bombing,” the 35-year-old says. “They cannot reach their lands.”
Sharab goes out every day to scour the shops and markets for food, hoping at the very least to find canned food and grains.
“I can’t find anything,” he says. “I’ve had to ask people if they have extra canned beans or meat so that I can buy them for my family.
What Israel is doing is a war of starvation for citizens, and this policy is frightening a lot of people including children as well,” he said, adding that the deliberate bombing of bakeries has left people queuing for six or seven hours just to obtain a bag of bread.
According to the United Nations, no bakery in the northern Gaza Strip has been active since November 7 due to the lack of fuel, water and wheat flour and because of structural damage. A total of 11 bakeries in the Gaza Strip have been completely destroyed, while others are unable to operate because of the lack of flour, fuel and electricity.
“There are indications of negative coping mechanisms due to food scarcity, including skipping or reducing meals and using unsafe and unhealthy methods for making fire,” a report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Wednesday.
“People are reportedly resorting to unconventional eating, such as consuming combinations of raw onion and uncooked eggplant.”
Since Israel imposed a total siege on the Gaza Strip on October 7, aid convoys have barely trickled through, meaning they can provide just a “drop in ocean” of what the 2.3 million people in the territory need, say humanitarian agencies.
ALJAZEERA
