FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Eating meat has become a pipe dream and adults have taken away meals so that children can eat
Amal Mohamed previously had to chase her young children around her home in Gaza to get them to finish their dinner. Now they are desperate for food and she can barely afford to feed them.
" We pretend to children that we are not hungry or too busy to eat. The price of food and firewood for cooking has risen, eating meat has become a dream, and adults have cut back on food intake so that children to be able to eat. We've all lost weight ," said the Palestinian mother of two, whose family has moved from the north of the besieged Rafah enclave to the south, where they share a stuffed tent. with relatives.
The family is among more than 2 million people facing severe food shortages as Israel's offensive in Gaza enters its fourth month. UN officials have warned of famine.
" The long shadow of hunger is haunting the people of Gaza, along with disease, malnutrition and other health threats ," UN Secretary-General António Guterres said last week.
The population of Gaza is almost completely dependent on foreign aid brought in through only two entry points - Rafah on the border with Egypt and Kerem Shalom on the Israeli border. The enclave's commercial farms have been damaged in the war and are largely out of order. The aid, which includes flour, oil, rice, pulses and canned food, is mainly sent to UN warehouses for distribution to shelters and elsewhere, and people have to queue, sometimes for hours, for get food
With minimal food entering the territory, UN agencies warn of a deepening disaster. They have called on Israel to open more crossings and streamline its inspection process for trucks, and say continued Israeli bombardment has hampered food distribution.
The entire population of Gaza is facing "crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity," according to an assessment cited by the WFP. More than 500,000 face "catastrophe," defined as extreme food shortages.
In December, Human Rights Watch accused the Israeli government of using starvation "as a method of war" in Gaza, saying Israel was deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food and fuel. Israeli officials have repeatedly rejected such claims, pointing to the daily deliveries to the territory that Israel facilitates.
Israel's offensive has killed more than 24,000 Palestinians and displaced 85 percent of the population, Gaza authorities say. The UN fears more deaths from starvation and disease.
The shelves in Gaza's grocery stores are empty of all but a few basic goods, such as canned meat, beans and cheese. Almost no one has an income, putting prices beyond their reach. Fresh foods such as eggs and milk are scarce and prices high: a tray of 30 eggs reached $24.
Just over 100 aid trucks entered Gaza on average each day, but an average of 600 were needed.
In Rafah, where 1.2 million displaced people are crammed into overcrowded apartments and UN facilities as well as tents, volunteers have taken to the streets to cook on wood fires and feed the hungry.
One day, people gathered around a man pouring pasta and sauce into their bowls. He loudly admonished the children to "move back or you'll burn."
Bakr al-Naji, 29, one of the cooks, said his group of 25 volunteers used donated ingredients to make 10,000 meals every day. " I'm sad when we finish and there are still children waiting, but we have nothing for them ."/ Adapted "Pamphlet" from "Financial Times"
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