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The Star
22-07-2025
- General
- The Star
Feature: Empty stalls, hollow stomachs -- Gaza's markets in age of blockade
GAZA, July 22 (Xinhua) -- At noon in Deir al-Balah's market square, Mohammed Nassar's shadow stretched thin across the bleached wood of empty stalls. His fingers trembled as they wiped sweat -- not from labor, but from exhaustion. "I've been walking here since six in the morning," the 35-year-old from the city of central Gaza told Xinhua. "And there is simply nothing to eat." "For over three weeks, my children and I haven't tasted bread. No vegetables, no fruit, no flour. I can hardly speak to you because of the hunger," he said. Where spices once perfumed the air, only dust swirled. Where vendors once haggled, silence hung like a shroud. The markets in Deir al-Balah and other places in Gaza, such as Khan Younis and Gaza City, once arteries of commerce, have become synonyms for absence. Fifteen more people, including four children, died from starvation in the past 24 hours, whereas 101 people, including 80 children, have lost their lives to hunger and malnutrition since March, the Gaza-based health authorities said Tuesday, adding that "the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate amid the ongoing Israeli blockade." The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said on social media platform X on Tuesday that "People in Gaza, including UNRWA colleagues, are fainting due to severe hunger. They are being starved." "Meanwhile, just a few kilometers away from Gaza, supermarkets and shops are loaded with food and other goods. Lift the siege. Allow UNRWA to bring in food and medicines," it said. The numbers are telling a story of cruelty, and the faces another one of desperation. Saleem al-Hato, a 50-year-old father of seven, was displaced from Gaza City and now resides in a makeshift shelter in Deir al-Balah. "Yesterday, my daughter cried all day because she had nothing to eat. We asked our neighbors for help and received two cans of peas. That's all we had for the entire family," he lamented. Even chroniclers of this crisis are crumbling. "Famine has reached a terrifying level. The markets are almost entirely empty, and whatever is available is far beyond the reach of ordinary people. A kilogram of flour now costs more than 200 shekels (over 50 U.S. dollars). I haven't been able to buy any for three days," Mohammed Odwan, a 39-year-old journalist and father of three, confessed. "I am dizzy, weak, and can barely move. I cannot focus on reporting. My body is exhausted, and my children are hungry," Odwan said, voice fraying. 37-year-old photographer Abdel Hakim Abu Riash, 20 kilograms lighter, documented his own decline in a tent in Gaza City: "My wife and I skip meals just so our children can eat something, usually just one meal a day, and often not even that." "The famine is not just taking lives; It's stripping people of their dignity. I can barely hold my camera anymore. Many of us go two days without eating a single thing. This is the reality for most Gazans now," he told Xinhua. Bahaa Abu Sultan, a former trader, now lives as an unemployed, displaced person in a southern Gaza shelter. "Before the war, life was stable. We had food, water, jobs, shelter," he told Xinhua. "Now, everything has collapsed. Hunger defines our lives. We are no longer the people we once were. I haven't eaten for two days. I try to sleep during the day to escape hunger. Most of us can barely stand on our feet anymore," he said. As dusk falls, children would sleep on clothing piles, startled awake not by hunger pangs but Israeli airstrikes. Their parents, in the meantime, would whisper the same question: "Will tomorrow be the day we find bread?"
Al Etihad
20-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Etihad
Israeli airstrikes, acute malnutrition kill seven Palestinians in Gaza
20 July 2025 11:33 GAZA (WAM)Six Palestinians were killed and several others injured on Sunday following a series of Israeli airstrikes and shelling targeting Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip.A four-year-old girl has died from severe malnutrition and hunger in the Gaza Strip, as the humanitarian situation in the enclave continues to deteriorate due to the total Israeli to medical officials, an estimated 17,000 children in Gaza are suffering from acute malnutrition. Many are arriving at hospitals exhibiting symptoms such as physical collapse, memory loss, and severe fatigue—direct consequences of prolonged United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) on Saturday called for the immediate lifting of restrictions preventing life-saving aid from reaching Gaza, saying it has food stockpiled to support the territory's entire population for more than three months."Open the gates, lift the siege, allow UNRWA to do its work and help people in need among them 1 million children,'' it appealed. The ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza since October 2023 has so far resulted in at least 58,765 documented Palestinian fatalities, with over 140,485 others injured.
Gulf Today
16-07-2025
- Health
- Gulf Today
One in 10 Gazan children screened in UNRWA clinics malnourished
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) warned on Tuesday of rising malnutrition rates among children in the Gaza Strip, confirming that one in every ten children is currently malnourished, according to data from its clinics and medical points across the strip. During a press briefing in Geneva, UNRWA's Director of Communications Juliette Touma said malnutrition rates have increased in Gaza, especially since the siege tightened four months ago, adding that UNRWA health teams have screened over 240,000 boys and girls across the Gaza Strip since January warned that therapeutic supplies to combat malnutrition among children are almost non-existent as UNRWA is facing severe shortages in medicines, nutritional supplies, fuel and hygiene materials, confirming that the agency ran out of food stocks late April. She noted that nearly 60 per cent of essential medicines have depleted from UNRWA's warehouses since Israeli forces banned the agency from bringing in any humanitarian aid, including food and medicines, on March 2. Palestinian mother Israa Abu Haleeb looks after her five-month-old daughter, Zainab, who is diagnosed with malnutrition, according to medics, at Nasser Hospital. Reuters On the Israeli aggression on the occupied West Bank, Touma described it as a silent war that continues to escalate in parallel with what is happening in Gaza, particularly amid severe restrictions on freedom of movement, imposed by the Israeli forces, rising poverty and unemployment due to loss of livelihoods. Palestinian children queue for a portion of hot food distributed by a charity kitchen at the Nuseirat refugee camp. AFP Touma stressed that despite these challenges, UNRWA continues its operations across the occupied Palestinian territory through a 14,000-strong local workforce, delivering essential services, particularly in the fields of healthcare and education, to Palestinian refugees and others in need. WAM
Al Etihad
15-07-2025
- Health
- Al Etihad
One in 10 children screened in UNRWA clinics malnourished: UNRWA
15 July 2025 16:10 GENEVA (WAM)The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) warned on Tuesday of rising malnutrition rates among children in the Gaza Strip, confirming that one in every 10 children is currently malnourished, according to data from its clinics and medical points across the a press briefing in Geneva, UNRWA's Director of Communications Juliette Touma said malnutrition rates have increased in Gaza, especially since the siege tightened four months ago, adding that UNRWA health teams have screened over 240,000 boys and girls across the Gaza Strip since January warned that therapeutic supplies to combat malnutrition among children are almost non-existent as UNRWA is facing severe shortages in medicines, nutritional supplies, fuel and hygiene materials, confirming that the agency ran out of food stocks late noted that nearly 60 per cent of essential medicines have depleted from UNRWA's warehouses since Israeli forces banned the agency from bringing in any humanitarian aid, including food and medicines, on March the Israeli aggression on the occupied West Bank, Touma described it as a silent war that continues to escalate in parallel with what is happening in Gaza, particularly amid severe restrictions on freedom of movement, imposed by the Israeli forces, rising poverty and unemployment due to loss of livelihoods. Touma stressed that despite these challenges, UNRWA continues its operations across the occupied Palestinian territory through a 14,000-strong local workforce, delivering essential services, particularly in the fields of healthcare and education, to Palestinian refugees and others in need.
Straits Times
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
UNRWA chief says cash flow crisis may force him into 'unprecedented decision'
FILE PHOTO: Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, speaks to the press in Oslo, Norway, January 14, 2025. Terje Pedersen/NTB/via REUTERS/ File Photo UNRWA chief says cash flow crisis may force him into 'unprecedented decision' GENEVA - The head of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency said on Tuesday he may have to take an "unprecedented decision" about the services it provides if funding is not found soon to ease a cash flow crisis. Philippe Lazzarini said the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) faced a $200 million deficit. "Cash flow is managed on a weekly basis," he told reporters in Berlin. "Without additional funding I will soon have to take an unprecedented decision affecting our services to Palestinian refugees." Lazzarini gave no further details of what that decision might entail. The United States was UNRWA's biggest donor but President Donald Trump announced broad cuts in foreign aid, including to UNRWA, earlier this year. Other Western governments' aid budgets are also under pressure following calls by Trump for more spending on defence as Russia's war in Ukraine drags on. UNRWA provides aid, health and education services to millions in the Palestinian territories and neighbouring Arab countries of Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. Lazzarini said that two weeks ago he had been about to suspend 10,000-15,000 UNRWA staff in the region because of the cash flow crisis but an advance contribution from a donor had given the agency respite for the next two months. "Just to process the payroll of our staff we need $60 million a month. We have no visibility anymore beyond September," he added. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has requested a strategic assessment of the impact of the UNRWA mandate and will propose how the right of Palestinian refugees can be protected, Lazzarini said. Israel has banned UNRWA from operating on its territory, accusing it of employing members of Palestinian militant group Hamas who took part in the October 2023 attacks on Israel that led to the war in Gaza. UNRWA said as the ban went into effect this year that operations in the Gaza Strip and West Bank would also suffer. The U.N. has said it will investigate all accusations made by Israel and asked Israel for evidence, which it says has not been forthcoming. Lazzarini has said that UNRWA has been the target of a disinformation campaign. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
