Starvation and despair in Gaza: ‘Aid is just another injustice'

Times

6 days ago

When Abed Khader regained consciousness in a hospital corridor in Gaza City, he couldn't remember where he had fainted. He did know he had been looking for flour.
Without much call for repairs or alterations during wartime, the tailor, 62, has been short of work for much of the past two years. Now he, and the 13 members of his immediate family, are among the two million Palestinians who are chronically short of food.
'Before he leaves in the morning, he leaves one small piece of bread for his daughter, that's all we have, then he goes to work,' said his sister, Soha Khader, 30, from his bedside. 'And what does tailoring bring in these days? Fifty shekels [£11] a day, if anything. Even when flour was cheaper, he couldn't always afford it. How's he supposed to manage now?'
Soha ventured out to look for flour herself, but even though she had money to spend, there was nothing. 'Not even at double or triple the price. No vendors,' she added. 'We're not only suffering from the siege and starvation, even the vendors have turned on us.'
Aid agencies warned of new levels of desperation and hunger among the territory's population on Monday, even as Israel began a new ground and aid offensive in central Gaza, where it is thought Hamas holds the remaining hostages captured at the start of the war on October 7, 2023.
Having deprived himself of food to feed his family, Khader was being treated with intravenous fluids less than 10 miles away from Deir el Balah, the scene of the latest Israeli advance. His condition is far from unique.
Also being treated in hospital was Mohammed al-Sweirki, 42, who said he hadn't eaten in a week. 'I'm weak, dizzy from hunger, and today I came to al-Shifa hospital to let them put me on an IV and give me medicine just so I could stand on my feet,' he said.
'I used to weigh 123 kilos. Today, I weigh 72. I lost all that weight in just a few months because of hunger. We're exhausted. Either humanitarian aid enters, or someone finds us a solution, or we all die.'
On Sunday, a three-month-old baby from Khan Yunis died of severe malnutrition and dehydration, according to his doctors at the Nasser Hospital in the south. Dr Fidaa al-Nadi, a paediatrician, said 73 children had died this way in the past month and many mothers were unable to breastfeed because of poor nutrition.
Israel says it has allowed in over a thousand tonnes of baby formula, and there are no bans on the product. However, supplies that are are let in pass through many hands. The Israeli military accuses Hamas of siphoning off aid and selling it for profit.
Aid organisations including Action Aid, Save the Children and UN agencies maintain that child malnutrition is climbing to alarming levels.
Among the grieving mothers was Alaa al-Najjar, whose infant son died after being readmitted to hospital suffering from dehydration and malnutrition shortly after being discharged from an intensive care ward. 'I had nothing to feed him except fennel tea and water. No milk, no nutrition,' she said.
On Monday, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said more than 59,000 Palestinians had been killed and more than 142,000 injured in Israel's military campaign following the October 7 attacks in which 1,200 Israelis died.
After 85 people died while trying to find food on Sunday, Britain joined 25 nations in condemning the Israeli government's aid delivery model, which it said was 'dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity'.
A statement added: 'We urge the parties and the international community to unite in a common effort to bring this terrible conflict to an end, through an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire. Further bloodshed serves no purpose.'
Israel rejected the joint statement 'as it is disconnected to reality and sends the wrong message to Hamas'.
Civilians have been killed almost daily while trying to obtain food or supply packages at designated aid convoy delivery points, which are administered by US contracts and guarded by Israeli forces.
Having waited for hours along with hundreds of others at an aid point for trucks containing flour to disgorge their contents, Waleed Abu Hatab, a father of seven forced to flee his home in Gaza City, described his relief at finally obtaining some. 'I ran, pushed through the crowd, grabbed a sack of flour, and now I'm on my way to my tent,' he said. 'I know it might have looked chaotic, but hunger is deadly. It's been over 15 days since many of us last tasted bread.'
He added that 1kg of flour cost the equivalent of £30, a price few can afford. If they manage to grab a bag, it will only last for 15 days, even if rationed to bake 12 small loaves a day.
One street vendor said prices of other basic commodities had soared. 'There's outrageous exploitation by merchants who sell essential food items like sugar, flour and rice. Prices have gone beyond imagination. Today, one kilo of sugar costs 300 shekels, while before the war we used to buy three entire sacks of sugar for the same price,' he said.
Such is the scarcity that thefts are on the rise, Mahmoud Abu Haseera, 67, from west Gaza, said. His house was largely destroyed in bombing. 'Recently, traders have started hiding their goods. They're afraid of hungry people attacking them or looting their supplies. And they know they're exploiting people's needs, so they're scared and hide the products to avoid being robbed,' he added.
Soha summed up their plight. 'There's no order, no system,' she said of the aid deliveries. 'The strongest survive and the most desperate push through. Many women, the sick, the elderly, they can't reach it. They have no chance. Aid is turning into another injustice.'
The latest intensive bombing and the entry of tanks into Deir el Balah was condemned on Monday by both Israelis and Palestinians as mass evacuation orders sent thousands more refugees to the overcrowded and unfed south.
Families of hostages are afraid that the new operation endangers those being held, who are thought to be with Hamas gunmen underneath the city. Israel's army has yet to comment on the offensive.
'The people of Israel will not forgive anyone who knowingly endangered the hostages, both the living and the deceased. No one will be able to claim they didn't know what was at stake,' the Hostages and Missing Families forum said in a statement.