In Gaza, everyone is living in famine, young and old... and hunger has no mercy on anyone

Umm Abdullah: From the early morning hours, I stand at the soup kitchen until one in the afternoon to get a bite to eat for my children.

Hoda Bashir: By God, my children cannot stand hunger. How long will we continue with this injustice? They even deprived us of food.

Umm Shaaban: Our whole life depends on the Tekke. If it closes, my children will starve to death. I don’t have money to buy food.

“We can’t eat, drink, or even live,” Umm Abdullah Sharkh said, describing the tragedy she is experiencing in light of the lack of vegetables and food supplies in the Gaza Strip’s markets.

It is no longer the Israeli bombing that terrifies the citizens of the Gaza Strip, but hunger has become more deadly. Famine has spread from the north to the south, and hunger has begun to devour the bodies of the citizens gradually in front of a world that has not and will not move a finger to stop the genocide against them.

Umm Abdullah told Al-Quds.com: “From the early morning hours, I stand at the takiya until one o’clock in the afternoon to get a bite to eat for my children.”

She added: "I depend on it completely, and if it weren't for the food from the hospice, my six children would go to bed hungry."

Umm Abdullah has to bring her young child with her to the hospice, and they line up together. She says: “My son stands in the same line as me, so that we can get enough food for all of us.”

Vegetables are not available in the markets, and when they are available, their price is very high, and citizens cannot buy them in light of the lack of sources of income. Umm Abdullah says: “I want to buy vegetables and food for my children, but I can’t. Everything in the market is expensive.”

He added: "Even a loaf of bread costs twenty shekels, and we can no longer afford it."

What about your wish? Umm Abdullah answers: “I wish we could live a decent life and eat healthy food like the rest of the world.”

Everyone is living in famine in the Gaza Strip

In Gaza, everyone is living in famine, young and old, because hunger has no mercy on anyone. Hoda Bashir tells Al-Quds.com: “By God, my children cannot bear hunger,” and she cries, wondering: “How long will we continue with this injustice?” She adds: “They even deprived us of food.”

Hoda and her ten children were displaced from Gaza City to Deir al-Balah. She is the sole breadwinner for them. She says: “If I wanted to buy a kilo of tomatoes, it wouldn’t be enough to feed my children. Everything in the market is expensive, and I don’t have the money to buy it.”

And about the most painful situation? Hoda answers: “When my daughter, who has special needs, woke up at dawn, she asked for food, but I couldn’t find anything to satisfy her hunger. She cried a lot, and I tried to calm her down by telling her that I would bring her food in the morning, but to no avail.”

She continues: “I had a can of peas and put them out for her to eat with a spoon, because there was no bread.” She adds: “Even the price of bread has gone up, and I can no longer afford to buy it.”

Like others, Hoda depends on the charity soup kitchens for food, but she is not able to get it every time, due to the overcrowding of the displaced. She says: “I stand in line at the soup kitchen for hours to be able to bring a plate of rice, but it is not enough for my ten children, and many times I am not able to get it.”

I found nothing but dukkah, thyme and some canned food.

Hoda was able to collect a small amount of money and decided to go shopping to buy what would benefit her children’s health, but she was shocked when she found it empty of food items. She continues: “I found nothing but dukkah and thyme, and some useless canned food.”

He continued: “My children are malnourished, their bodies are thin and their structure is weak.”

The same situation is experienced by Umm Shaaban, who was displaced from Gaza City to Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. She told “I” and “Al-Quds” Dot Com: “There is nothing but that my children and I feel very hungry, and I am not ashamed to say that, as hunger has eaten away at our bodies and we are unable to perform our tasks in living.”

Umm Shaaban waits for four hours in the queue at the Tekke to get a plate of food. She continues: “I keep waiting for my turn until it arrives. Sometimes I get food and many times it runs out and they compensate us with canned food.”

Umm Shaaban lives in a tragic situation inside her tent, as she does not have a steady source of income to support her eight children. She adds: “Our whole life depends on the hospice. If it closes, my children will die of hunger.”

He continued: "I don't have money to buy expensive food."

All Gazans dream of stopping the Israeli war on them, demanding that the entire world end the genocide against them, allow them to return to their homes, open the crossings, and allow aid to enter.