Latest news with #DeirElBalah
Al Jazeera
9 hours ago
- General
- Al Jazeera
‘Flour, fire and fear as I try to parent in a starving Gaza'
Deir el-Balah, Gaza – 'There is no voice louder than hunger,' the Arabic proverb goes. Now it has become a painful truth surrounding us, drawing closer with each passing day. I never imagined that hunger could be more terrifying than the bombs and killing. This weapon caught us off-guard, something we never thought would be more brutal than anything else we've faced in this endless war. It's been four months without a single full meal for my family, nothing that meets even the basic needs on Maslow's hierarchy. My days revolve around hunger. One sister calls to ask about flour, and the other sends a message saying all they have is lentils. My brother returns empty-handed from his long search for food for his two kids. We woke up one day to the sound of our neighbour screaming in frustration. 'I'm going mad. What's happening? I have money, but there's nothing to buy,' she said when I came out to calm her down. My phone doesn't stop ringing. The calls are from crying women I met during fieldwork in displacement camps: 'Ms Maram? Can you help with anything? A kilo of flour or something? … We haven't eaten in days.' This sentence echoes in my ears: 'We haven't eaten in days.' It is no longer shocking. Famine is marching forwards in broad daylight, shamelessly in a world so proud of its 'humanity'. A second birthday amid scarcity Iyas has woken up asking for a cup of milk today, his birthday. He has turned two in the middle of a war. I wrote him a piece on his birthday last year, but now I look back and think: 'At least there was food!' A simple request from a child for some milk spins me into a whirlwind. I'd already held a quiet funeral inside me weeks ago for the last of the milk, then rice, sugar, bulgur, beans – the list goes on. Only four bags of pasta, five of lentils and 10 precious kilos (22lb) of flour remain – enough for two weeks if I ration tightly, and even that makes me luckier than most in Gaza. Flour means bread – white gold people are dying for every single day. Every cup I add to the dough feels heavy. I whisper to myself: 'Just two cups'. Then I add a little more, then a bit more, hoping to somehow stretch these little bits into enough bread to last the day. But I know I'm fooling myself. My mind knows this won't be enough to quell hunger; it keeps warning me how little flour we have left. I don't know what I'm writing any more. But this is just what I'm living, what I wake up and fall asleep to. What horrors remain? I now think back on the morning bread-making routine I used to resent. As a working mother, I once hated that long process imposed by war, which made me miss being able to buy bread from the bakery. But now, that routine is sacred. Thousands of people across Gaza wish they could knead bread without end. I am one of them. Now I handle flour with reverence, knead gently, cut the loaves carefully, roll them out and send them off to bake in the public clay oven with my husband, who lovingly balances the tray on his head. A full hour under the sun at the oven just to get a warm loaf of bread, and we're among the 'lucky' ones. We are kings, the wealthy. These 'miserable' daily routines have become unattainable dreams for hundreds of thousands in Gaza. Everyone is starving. Is it possible that this war still has more horrors in store? We complained about displacement. Then our homes were bombed. We never returned. We complained about the burdens of cooking over a fire, making bread, handwashing clothes and hauling water. Now those 'burdens' feel like luxuries. There's no water. No soap. No supplies. Iyas's latest challenge Two weeks ago, while being consumed by thoughts of how to stretch out the last handfuls of flour, another challenge appeared: potty training Iyas. We ran out of diapers. My husband searched everywhere, returning empty-handed. 'No diapers, no baby formula, nothing at all.' Just like that. My God, how strange and harsh this child's early years have been. War has imposed so many changes that we could not protect him from. His first year was an endless hunt for baby formula, clean water and diapers. Then came famine, and he grew up without eggs, fresh milk, vegetables, fruit or any of the basic nutrients a toddler needs. I fought on, sacrificing what little health I had to continue breastfeeding until now. It was difficult, especially while undernourished myself and trying to keep working, but what else could I do? The thought of raising a child with no nutrients at this critical stage is unbearable. And so my little hero woke up one morning to the challenge of ditching diapers. I pitied him, staring in fear at the toilet seat, which looked to him like a deep tunnel or cave he might fall into. It took us two whole days to find a child's seat for the toilet. Every day was filled with training accidents, signs he wasn't ready. The hours I spent sitting by the toilet, encouraging him, were exhausting and frustrating. Potty training is a natural phase that should come when the child is ready. Why am I and so many other mothers here forced to go through it like this, under mental strain, with a child who I haven't had a chance to prepare? So I fall asleep thinking about how much food we have left and wake up to rush my child to the toilet. Rage and anxiety build up as I try to manage our precious water supply as soiled clothes pile up from the daily accidents. Then came the expulsion orders in Deir el-Balah. A fresh slap. The danger is growing as Israeli tanks creep closer. And here I am: hungry, out of diapers, raising my voice at a child who can't understand while the shelling booms around us. Why must we live like this, spirits disintegrating every day as we wait for the next disaster? Many have resorted to begging. Some have chosen death for a piece of bread or a handful of flour. Others stay home, waiting for the tanks to arrive. Many, like me, are simply waiting their turn to join the ranks of the starving without knowing what the end will look like. They used to say time in Gaza is made of blood. But now, it's blood, tears and hunger.
Al Jazeera
2 days ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
LIVE: Israel kills 60 in Gaza; Hamas says working on truce to ‘stop famine'
Israeli forces killed more than 60 Palestinians, including 11 aid seekers, in attacks across Gaza on Monday, as tanks pushed into southern and eastern districts of Deir el-Balah for the first time. Hamas says it's working around the clock and engaging mediators 'in order to stop famine and stop this criminal war'.
Free Malaysia Today
2 days ago
- Health
- Free Malaysia Today
‘Last lifelines' are collapsing in Gaza, says UN chief
Antonio Guterres said he deplores increasing cases of malnutrition affecting both children and adults. (EPA Images pic) UNITED NATIONS : UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres on Monday condemned the 'accelerating breakdown of humanitarian conditions' in Gaza after more than 21 months of Israel's war with Hamas. 'The last lifelines keeping people alive are collapsing,' his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement. The UN chief 'deplores the growing reports of children and adults suffering from malnutrition.' More than two dozen Western countries Monday also called for an immediate end to the war, saying that suffering had 'reached new depths' as Israel's military expanded its operations to Gaza's central city of Deir el-Balah. 'The secretary-general notes that the intensification of hostilities in recent days comes as the humanitarian system is being impeded, undermined and endangered,' Dujarric said. 'A new evacuation order in parts of Deir el-Balah – home to tens of thousands – pushes people into more desperate conditions and further displacement and restricts the UN's ability to deliver life-saving aid.'
Malay Mail
2 days ago
- Politics
- Malay Mail
WHO facilities targeted in Gaza, international outcry against Israel intensifies
GAZA July 22 — The World Health Organization said Monday its facilities in Gaza had come under Israeli attack, echoing calls from Western countries for an immediate ceasefire as Israel expanded military operations to the central city of Deir el-Balah. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the Israeli military had entered the UN agency's staff residence, forced women and children to evacuate on foot, and handcuffed, stripped and interrogated male staff at gunpoint. Earlier, more than two dozen Western countries called for an immediate end to the war, saying suffering there had 'reached new depths'. After more than 21 months of fighting that have triggered catastrophic humanitarian conditions for Gaza's more than two million people, Israeli allies Britain, France, Australia, Canada and 21 other countries, plus the EU, said in a joint statement that the war 'must end now'. 'The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths,' the signatories added, urging a negotiated ceasefire, the release of hostages held by Palestinian militants and the free flow of much-needed aid. Tedros, who also condemned an attack on the WHO's main warehouse in Deir el-Balah, echoed that call: 'A ceasefire is not just necessary, it is overdue,' he said on X. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar condemned the countries' statement, saying any international pressure should be on Hamas, while US ambassador Mike Huckabee called the joint letter 'disgusting'. Key mediator Egypt, however, endorsed the message. The Western plea came with Deir el-Balah under intense shelling on Monday, after Israel's military the day before had ordered residents to leave, warning of imminent action in an area where it had not previously operated. Between 50,000 and 80,000 people were in the area when the evacuation order was issued, according to initial estimates from the UN's humanitarian agency OCHA. Deir el-Balah resident Abdullah Abu Saleem, 48, told AFP on Monday that 'during the night, we heard huge and powerful explosions shaking the area as if it were an earthquake'. He said this was 'due to artillery shelling in the south-central part of Deir el-Balah and the southeastern area'. 'We are extremely worried and fearful that the army is planning a ground operation,' he added. Displaced Palestinians watch from the al-Mawasi refugee camp as flares launched by Israeli forces light up the sky above nearby Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on July 21, 2025. — AFP pic 'Extremely critical' In their statement, the Western countries also denounced Israel's aid delivery model in Gaza, saying it was 'dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity'. The UN has recorded 875 people killed in Gaza while trying to get food since late May, when Israel began easing a more than two-month aid blockade. 'We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food,' the statement said. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned through his spokesman the 'accelerating breakdown of humanitarian conditions', noting 'the growing reports of children and adults suffering from malnutrition'. In Deir el-Balah, AFP images showed plumes of dark smoke billowing into the sky. The spokesman for Gaza's civil defence agency, Mahmud Bassal, told AFP it had 'received calls from several families trapped in the Al-Baraka area of Deir el-Balah due to shelling by Israeli tanks'. The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment. Since the start of the war, nearly all of Gaza's population has been displaced at least once by repeated Israeli evacuation orders. According to OCHA, the latest order means that 87.8 per cent of the territory is now under evacuation orders or within Israeli militarised zones. Hamdi Abu Mughseeb, 50, told AFP that he and his family had fled northwards from their tent south of Deir el-Balah at dawn following a night of intense shelling. 'There is no safe place anywhere in the Gaza Strip,' he said. 'I don't know where we can go.' Mai Elawawda, communications officer in Gaza for the UK-based charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, said the situation was 'extremely critical', describing shelling 'all around our office.' Smoke billows from Israeli bombardment as pictured from Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on July 21, 2025. — AFP pic 'Shocked and alarmed' The families of hostages held in Gaza since Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel said they were 'shocked and alarmed' by reports of evacuation orders for parts of Deir el-Balah. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum demanded political and military authorities 'clearly explain why the offensive in the Deir el-Balah area does not put the hostages at serious risk'. Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas's attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Civil defence spokesman Bassal reported at least 15 people killed by Israeli forces across Gaza on Monday. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the agency and other parties. Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed 59,029 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Hamas's 2023 attack, which sparked the war, resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. — AFP
Al Arabiya
2 days ago
- Health
- Al Arabiya
WHO says its staff residence, warehouse in central Gaza attacked
The World Health Organization decried Israeli attacks Monday on its staff residence and its main warehouse in the central Gaza city of Deir el-Balah. 'WHO's staff residence in Deir el-Balah, Gaza, was attacked three times today as well as its main warehouse,' the UN health agency's chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X. 'Israeli military entered the premises, forcing women and children to evacuate on foot toward Al-Mawasi (in southern Gaza) amid active conflict,' he said, adding that 'male staff and family members were handcuffed, stripped, interrogated on the spot and screened at gunpoint.' Tedros said that 32 WHO staff and family members had been evacuated to the agency's office once access became possible. At the same time, two WHO staff and two family members were detained, he said, and while three were later released, 'one staff remains in detention.' 'WHO demands the immediate release of the detained staff and protection of all its staff,' he insisted. His comments came as Deir el-Balah faced intense shelling after Israel's military on Sunday ordered residents to leave, warning of imminent action in an area where it had not previously operated. 'The latest evacuation order in Deir el-Balah has affected several WHO premises, compromising our ability to operate in Gaza and pushing the health system further towards collapse,' Tedros warned. He highlighted that WHO's main warehouse located in Deir al Balah was 'within the evacuation zone, and was damaged yesterday (Sunday) when an attack caused explosions and a fire inside.' This was deepening an already dire crisis, Tedros warned. 'With the main warehouse nonfunctional and the majority of medical supplies in Gaza depleted, WHO is severely constrained in adequately supporting hospitals, emergency medical teams and health partners, already critically short on medicines, fuel, and equipment,' he said. The WHO chief said his agency was urgently calling on its member states 'to help ensure a sustained and regular flow of medical supplies into Gaza.' 'As the lead agency for health, compromising WHO's operations is crippling the entire health response in Gaza,' he said. 'A ceasefire is not just necessary, it is overdue.'
