Naaman Al-Kafarna: A kilo of tomatoes costs 50 shekels, and fruits are a precious treasure that only the wealthy can afford.

Bakeries are closed and a 25kg bag of flour has reached $200!

Muhammad Abu Abasa: My brothers often sleep without food.. Are they waiting for us to die?!

Vegetables in the shops of the vendors for the wealthy consumers.. and their families do not get a share of them

Trader Muhammad Abu Amra: The profit is almost negligible in light of the high prices and the inability to buy

“I gave birth to my children after 18 years and I can’t feed them,” with these words, citizen Naaman Al-Kafarna summed up his condition and tragic situation after the Israeli occupation prevented aid trucks from entering the Gaza Strip.

Hunger is eating away at the bodies of Gazan citizens, young and old, in light of the closure of bakeries due to the lack of flour, not to mention the lack of vegetables, and if certain types are available, their prices are exorbitant, and citizens cannot afford to buy them.

Al-Kafarna told Al-Quds.com: “I was displaced from the north of the Gaza Strip to the center, hoping to find a livelihood that would satisfy my children’s hunger. I did not know that the greatest suffering was evident here.”

Al-Kafarna was walking confused in the Deir al-Balah market in the middle of the Strip, where all types of vegetables cost more than what he earns. He continued: “A kilo of tomatoes today costs 50 shekels, as well as eggplant, cucumbers and zucchini, and I don’t have enough money to buy them at this price.” He added: “The prices are crazy. We are dying of hunger and no one cares about us.”

My children want to eat apples

As for fruits, they are absent from all the markets in the sector, and if a certain type of them is available, it is like a precious treasure that only the wealthy can obtain. He continues: “My children want to eat apples... apples have become a big thing that we cannot obtain.”

He added, his eyes shining with tears: “I swear, every day I go to bed crying because I can’t afford to eat.”

The famine was not limited to the lack of vegetables and fruits in the markets, but also extended to bakeries that were closed due to the lack of flour, and if it was available in very small quantities, bread was at high prices.

Al-Kafarna continued to explain his tragedy: “I have been waiting for more than four hours at the bakery that sells saj bread, and I did not get any bread because the quantity ran out, not to mention that the price of a 25-kilogram bag of flour reached $200,” he added: “Where can I get it to buy it? They are killing us and relieving us of this life.”

He continued: "We no longer have the strength to be patient, but I hope the world and the Arab peoples feel for us and our suffering, because the price we pay for our daily sustenance is very high."

Displaced people depend on charitable donations for their food

The same situation is experienced by the displaced person, Muhammad Abu Abasa, from the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City, where he was cut off from his way and became the sole breadwinner for his family after he was displaced with his mother and sisters, without his father who remained in the north.

“I cannot meet my family’s needs. I see vegetables, and I do not have enough money to buy them,” Abu Abasa told Al-Quds.com. “My sisters are starving and often go to sleep without food,” he added.

He asks in frustration and helplessness: “What are you waiting for us to die for?” He adds: “I go to sleep crying because I am unable to satisfy my mother and sisters’ hunger.”

Most of the displaced people depend on the charitable soup kitchens for their food, and if they close, they try to make ends meet with canned food. He continues: “Every day, our breakfast is flour and oil, and for lunch, I go to the soup kitchen line and wait my turn to bring whatever food is available.”

Sellers are like everyone else.

Hunger is not limited to citizens only, but even the vendors are like other people, they buy vegetables at a very high price just to sell them, and they cannot buy them for their families.

Muhammad Abu Amra, the owner of a vegetable shop in Deir al-Balah market, told Al-Quds.com: “I am forced to buy the available vegetables at a high price in order to earn my daily bread, and the profit is almost negligible in light of the high prices and the citizens’ inability to buy.”

He continues: “Citizens pass by my shop and ask about the price. Some of them buy one or two tomatoes, while others cannot buy them. The price of one kilo of tomatoes has exceeded 50 shekels due to their unavailability.”

The lack of interest from citizens in buying caused the goods to pile up in Abu Amra’s shop, rot and become unfit for consumption, so he was forced to sell them at a lower price and lose money on them.

He says: “If the situation remains as it is, I will be forced to close my shop, as I have closed it in the past, due to the unavailability of goods and their high price.”

In turn, the World Food Program confirmed yesterday that its supplies had run out in the central and southern Gaza Strip, stressing that they were doing their utmost to bring in more food aid.

"The humanitarian response to the needs in Gaza is on the verge of collapse as the risk of famine increases," he said.