"We survive on a pot of lentils — and often not even that"
Most of the food from humanitarian aid to Gazans does not reach the free kitchens, Izvestia has learned. According to the Palestinians, groups are operating on the border, stealing food and selling it at prices many times higher than in pre-war times. There is also a new type of earnings — a 50% commission for cash withdrawal. This is the only way to pay, ATMs do not issue them. Hunger remains the main problem for residents of the strip amid the breakdown of negotiations between Hamas and Israel — recently, the number of those who are critically short of food has doubled. Meanwhile, the US Special Envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, arrived in Gaza to assess the situation.
"Do my children eat if the charity kitchen is open, or do they stay hungry"
Against the background of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, the consequences of the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip are becoming more serious every month. From May to June of this year, the number of households facing extreme hunger doubled. Since April, more than 20 thousand children have been admitted to hospitals for treatment of the effects of acute malnutrition, 3 thousand of them suffered from exhaustion.
According to estimates by international organizations, by September 2025, acute food shortages in almost the entire exclave will reach the third of the five stages. At the same time, for a quarter of the population, this will be the fifth stage — when the death rate will be more than two people per 10,000 per day.
— The conditions in which we live now are the worst since the beginning of the genocide. The bombing continues, there are calls for evacuation, everything is destroyed, and there is simply no food. Our bodies are getting much weaker. For example, I lost 15 kg of weight because there is no proper food. My daughter, who is 3.5 years old, is forced to eat canned food without vitamins and nutrients — and this has been the case for most of her life," Palestinian journalist Shoruk Ayla tells Izvestia.
For most residents of the Gaza Strip, the only way to get food is through public kitchens. However, in order for food to get there, it must be transported through border checkpoints controlled by the Israeli military.
— The problem now is that Israel controls the arrival of trucks with humanitarian aid that go to Gaza. Some of the residents go to these points on their own to pick up food, so they do not fully reach the tent camp. I can't risk my life and go to those trucks because there are frequent shootings," Shoruk says.
The situation is also complicated by the fact that groups are operating at border posts that steal food intended for free distribution.
— I come here at seven in the morning and leave at one in the afternoon. Sometimes I manage to get food, and sometimes I don't. My children eat if there is a charity kitchen, but if there is none, they stay hungry. If they haven't eaten, I take them to the hospital to get an IV drip, just so they can stay on their feet. We've been living without bread for three months now. It just doesn't exist. We are completely dependent on charity kitchens, we survive on a pot of lentils, and often we don't even have that," complains Riham Dvas, a resident of Gaza.
Of course, you can buy some products, but their prices change from day to day, explains the owner of one of the shops in Gaza.
"I swear, we can't buy anything at all. Imagine, a pack of pasta costs 30 shekels. What used to cost a shekel is now 30! What should we do? We need to buy food and drink… Flour costs 80 shekels — where can I get it? We are exhausted. Children ask to eat — and what should I tell them? My son says: "I'm hungry." What should I tell him? — a local resident is indignant in a conversation with Izvestia.
Besides the fact that most people in Gaza simply do not have the money to pay for such expensive products, the difficulty arises even with the physical ability to pay for them. Banks and ATMs in the sector are currently closed, and all payments are made in cash. Those who have them are military traders, Shoruk says. According to her, they charge a staggering 50% commission.
"We wake up to some news and fall asleep to others"
On July 31, the Gaza Ministry of Health said that in the past 24 hours, at least 91 Palestinians had died trying to receive humanitarian aid and more than 600 people had been injured. The process of food delivery to the exclave has been repeatedly criticized by international organizations. At the same time, the Israeli authorities claim that it was the Hamas movement that provoked the famine, and they are preventing the delivery of food in order to put pressure on the Jewish state from the international community.
International NGOs claim that in order to meet the needs of Gazans, it is necessary for at least 600 trucks with 20 tons of aid to enter the exclave every day. On July 30, only 220 entered there. Against the background of difficulties with access to humanitarian aid that enters the Gaza Strip through land corridors, at the end of July, some countries, in particular the UAE, Egypt and Jordan, decided to start delivering it from the air.
"In the last week, we have seen several food supplies from the air, but this is an insignificant amount of aid, it does not affect anything, it does not close the ocean of needs of the Gazans," Shoruk comments.
Food delivery by air also turned out to be a rather dangerous event. On July 27, at least 11 Palestinians were injured in northern Gaza when one of the pallets fell directly onto a tent.
By the way, Special envoy of the President of the United States Steve Witkoff arrived in Rafah on August 1 to inspect the distribution of food. Hamas called his visit a propaganda exercise "to contain the growing anger about American involvement in the use of hunger against our population in the sector."
The United States is directly involved in resolving the conflict, but progress is still questionable. Representatives of Hamas and Israel were scheduled to meet for talks on July 24, but the U.S. and Jewish state delegations left Qatar without starting the meeting. According to Steve Witkoff, the response to their peace proposals provided by the Palestinian movement "clearly demonstrates a lack of desire to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza." He said that Washington now intends to consider "alternative options" for returning the hostages home and will try to create a more stable environment for the residents of Gaza.
Sources of the Al Hadath TV channel claim that "no negotiations are visible on the horizon." Instead, Israel began discussing other scenarios, including the partial annexation of the Gaza Strip. Officials confirmed that there are several options for breaking the deadlock in the behind-the-scenes discussions, including establishing direct administrative control over certain areas of the exclave.
— We wake up to some news and fall asleep to others. It's killing us. The state of negotiations is mentally destroying us, because every day they break down, something changes," says local resident Mohamed Mehesen.
According to the latest information, Hamas is ready to immediately resume participation in negotiations only if the famine and the acute humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip are stopped: "If humanitarian aid reaches those in need in Gaza, and the growing crisis and famine are stopped, we are ready to return to negotiations immediately," the Palestinian movement said in a statement. Israel, for its part, demands the release of all its hostages.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
