Gazans serve up street food for hundreds forced to flee homes

Volunteers are rallying together to help those in need amid humanitarian crisis

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Community-spirited Gazans are helping to serve up meals for hundreds of people forced to flee their homes as a deadly war rages on.

Volunteers are lending a vital hand to those in need with supplies of essential goods dwindling amid a mounting humanitarian crisis.

Hundreds of thousands of people in the north of the Gaza strip have been displaced due to a barrage of air strikes, coupled with a recent evacuation order from Israel.

The death toll in Gaza has crossed 3,500, with more than 12,000 injured, as international calls to de-escalate violence go unheeded.

Mahmoud Al Raqab, a young activist, is among those providing a crucial lifeline in the most challenging of times.

He said the grass-roots initiative won support from American friends, who transferred money to help pay for food that is being cooked up on the streets.

Restaurants have been drafted in to help supply the food and help cook it.

"We are providing food for the displaced, who cannot flee the places where they are, which are the assembly points or in the gathering places at their relatives' houses," said Mr Al Raqab.

He said the food drive has helped people who aid organisations have so far been unable to reach.

"We provided these meals to them through our friends. We thank them for their humanitarian gesture," said Mr Al Raqab.

"We secured the money, and we got in touch with the owners of kitchens, who are providing the food or cooking the food using wood."

He said the shortage of fuel is hindering the preparation and distribution of the much-needed food, but they are pressing on despite the huge challenges they face.

"Movement is restricted and when we move, all roads, as you have seen, are closed due to raids, and there are huge holes on the streets.

"We are doing our duty when any crisis or catastrophe arises in the Gaza Strip."