Gazans face 'unbearable' hunger as Israel keeps borders shut

Having increased threefold in one month, a sack of flour now costs $150

A boy salvages flour in the aftermath of an Israeli strike in Khan Younis. Flour prices have rocketed 10-fold due to a total blockade on aid for Gaza. AFP

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In a worn-out tent tucked into a corner of Jabalia camp in northern Gaza, Khadija Al Balawi used up all her flour supply two days ago, turning it into bread that fed her family of 12. Now there is nothing left – no food, no flour – and no hope that anything would come through the sealed border crossings that have kept Gaza cut off from the world for more than 50 days.

“We literally have nothing to eat,” Ms Al Balawi, 54, told The National. “And we don’t have money to buy anything because everything is insanely expensive. A sack of flour costs $150, when you can find it, and most of it is spoilt and unfit for human consumption.”

Hunger looms throughout Gaza. Flour, once a basic commodity, has become a symbol of survival in a war-torn strip slipping rapidly into famine. According to a report by the World Food Programme WFP in March, food prices have soared in the territory, with the price of a 25kg bag of wheat flour selling for up to $50, a 400 per cent increase on pre-March prices. That number has increased by threefold this month already.

A report in December by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) found 91 per cent of Gaza’s population (1.95 million) faced high levels of acute food insecurity classified as IPC phase three (crisis) or above, of which 876,000 people (41 per cent of the population) are in emergency (phase four) and 345,000 (16 per cent) are in catastrophe (phase five).

Community kitchens and bakeries have closed down after fuel and wheat stocks ran out. Aid lorries, lifelines for families like Ms Al Balawi's, have been prevented from entering Gaza since March 2 due to Israel’s continuing blockade and attacks.

Collective punishment

The Israeli bombardment of Gaza has not only destroyed homes but also the infrastructure that sustained everyday life. Bombs have struck food warehouses, water desalination stations and even medical supply depots, exacerbating an already dire crisis.

"This is not just a humanitarian catastrophe, it is a systematic crime,” Amjad Shawa, head of the Palestinian NGO Network, told The National. “Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war. It’s collective punishment.”

A Palestinian woman visits a bakery that has stopped operating due to a lack of flour and fuel, in Gaza city. Reuters

He said the Israeli military has also blocked the entry of essential items such as vaccines, medicine, nutritional supplements and fuel, further exposing vulnerable groups, particularly children and mothers. An estimated 92 per cent of children under two and breastfeeding mothers are not receiving their nutritional needs, according to a UN report in March.

Musab Islim, 28, fled his home in Al Shujaiyya neighbourhood after the Israeli army warned of an imminent ground operation. “The hardest part of war is being dragged from one place to another,” he told The National. "Honestly, dying at home is better than being dragged out."

Now living in a tent in western Gaza city with his family of eight, Mr Islim said life has become "unbearable".

“There’s no food, no water, and even if we find anything, it’s unaffordable. This is not something anyone can survive for long. The war is getting worse every day and no one is stopping it. No one is saving us.”

The hardest part, Ms Al Balawi said, is when her children ask for food but there is nothing to give them. “There’s nothing to ease their hunger. That’s what we face every day.”

What the people of Gaza are living through is not only a crisis, it’s a man-made famine

Amjad Shawa,
head of Palestinian NGO Network

Most residents in Gaza have lost their source of income. Ms Al Balawi's husband used to work in a factory and her son in a restaurant, but both businesses were destroyed in the bombings. With no cash and the market collapsing under siege, even those lucky enough to find supplies often face exorbitant prices.

“What the people of Gaza are living through is not only a crisis, it’s a man-made famine,” said Mr Shawa. "This is a deliberate act of collective punishment that must be stopped."

To compound the problem, severe water shortages have reached critical levels, with only one in 10 people currently able to access safe drinking water, Unicef said last month.

UN agencies estimate 1.8 million people – more than half of them children – urgently need water, sanitation and hygiene assistance.

Mr Shawa said the consequences of the Israeli blockade have reached every part of Palestinians' lives in Gaza. Disease is spreading, malnutrition is rampant and the closure of Gaza’s crossings continues to choke what hopes remain.

“I’m terrified of what’s coming,” Ms Al Balawi says. “If the borders don’t open soon, the famine will get worse and we will face something even darker than what we’re living now.”