Earning a living has become a daily struggle, and hundreds of men, women and children are held in endless queues, under the burning sun, outside the few community kitchens that only serve lentil soup.
Community cuisine in the west of Gaza reveals a panorama of painful scenes in the midst of suffering displaced people, from their cries to help and their urgent calls in the world, demanding the end of their tragedy and their relief.
Community cooking workers are busy preparing the lentil soup while plastic bowls and empty plates are stacked behind an iron fence, while waiting for a small amount that many may not be able to obtain a sip.
After a bitter fight, Ziad al-Ghariz, an elderly person in Gaza, managed to obtain a cup of lens soup. He sat on the ground and started taking slow sips. He said UN News that he had not tasted bread for 10 consecutive days.
“We are starving here”
“I eat the lentil soup distributed by community cuisine,” he said. “I can’t afford me at all. I don’t have the money for that, so I try to get what the kitchen is distributing. The inhabitants of Gaza are hungry. “
Young Mohammed Nayfeh says he spent four hours waiting for a meal for his family.
“I’ve been standing here for four hours, and I can’t have food in the crowd and the sun,” he said. “We die. We need support. We need food and drinks. Where is the world? We are dying here. Every day, we only eat lenses. There is no flour, no food, no drink. We are hungry. “
A group of displaced Palestinians meeting in front of a local community cuisine in the west of the city of Gaza.
Burn in the sun or be trapped
“Either we burn in the sun, or we are trampled under the feet”
Umm Muhammad, a displaced person from the Shujaiya district, described the macabre scene around them.
“There is no water, no food, no bread,” she said. “The bitterness of the situation forces us to come here. At the end, we come back without anything. We come back either burned under the sun or trampled under the foot due to overcrowding, and we return empty -handed. And no one listens. »»
Hussam al-Qamari, who was also moved from Shujaiya, said the situation was no longer acceptable.
“We die and our children die of hunger,” she said. “So many things happen to the inhabitants of Gaza. Much of what’s going on is unacceptable. An old man like me has been held here since morning, wearing a bowl so that his children have breakfast, and they still haven’t eaten. ”
Um Muhammad, who fled the district of Shujaiya in the east of Gaza City to its western areas, is waiting to take food.
Classrooms with queues for lenses
According to the latest conclusions of the United Nations Agency for Relief and Works for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), one in five children from Gaza City suffers from malnutrition, the cases increasing daily.
The image of this little girl standing behind an iron fence, holding her empty bowl while waiting for a small lens soup, sums up this horrible tragedy, for which children pay the heaviest price.
Bassam Abu Odeh, a person moved by Beit Hanoun, called.
“We invite all the free people in the world and peace lovers to help us provide food and water until this famine is imposed by the occupation ends. The trucks authorized in the region by the occupation are not even a drop in the ocean of needs. We have no one, but God. “
A Gaza girl waiting to fill her lentil container.
“Food is not enough”
Umm Rami, a displaced person in the Zeitoun district, said that the necessities of life were missing in Gaza, calling the world to look at the inhabitants of the compassion band.
“I came here to get a small amount of food to feed my children.” It is our reality now: we come to community kitchens for food, having lived once with dignity and respect in our own houses. »»
She said food is not enough.
“We have reached a point where we line up for food and water. As you can see, children’s lives now revolves around water and food lines. Food is not enough. We only have God. The world must look at us and everyone must arouse their conscience. ”
Undeniable risk of famine
According to a warning issued by the integrated classification of the food security phase (IPC), Gaza faces a serious risk of famine, as indicators of food consumption and nutrition have reached their worst levels since the start of the current conflict.
The alert underlines that two of the three famine thresholds were observed in certain parts of the Gaza Strip, with the World Food Program (Wfp) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) Warning that time is launching a complete humanitarian response.
The UN Secretary General said that the alert confirms that Gaza is on the brink of famine. He said that the facts are undeniable and that the Palestinians of Gaza suffer from a humanitarian disaster of epic proportions.
“It is not a warning, but a reality that takes place before our eyes,” he said.
He underlined the need for help to help to become an “ocean”, with food, water, drugs and fuel flowing without obstacle.
“This nightmare must end,” he said.
Death looking for food
The United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs Coordination (Ochha) said that day after the start of the tactical breaks announced by the Israeli authorities in Gaza, “we continue to see losses among those looking for help and more death by hunger and malnutrition. »»
The United Nations office said that parents continue to fight to save their hungry children. Desperate and hungry people continue to unload small truck aids who manage to leave the crossings.
Although the United Nations and its partners benefit from each opportunity to support those who need it during unilateral tactical breaks, the conditions for providing aid and supplies are far from adequate, according to OCHA.
