Middle East Eye yesterday provided testimony on the famine in northern Gaza, where Israeli forces are denying humanitarian aid. There have been several reports of people dying from malnutrition, including infants. Life for over half a million people there now revolves around a single task every day: finding something to eat.
In this following account, “a resident of Gaza City, who did not wish to be named, recounts to MEE’s Lubna Masarwa the struggle to survive in a war-torn city:
“Things are difficult. Getting anything has become a difficult task, even simple things like sugar, salt and rice. We go on looking for them everywhere, even in old shops and abandoned homes. If and when we find them in shops, they are sold at crazy prices. About four days ago, around 800 bags of wheat flour came in. There are up to 700,000 people in northern Gaza. This means one bag for around every 1,000 people or so.
“My cousin was among those people who managed to get a bag. It’s 25kg. He distributed it among our extended family and each of us got 1 kilo. Just like everyone else in Gaza, my sister and I mixed our share with corn and soy flour. We do this to increase the quantity. I spent three hours in the morning starting the fire and cooking it, and in the end, it wasn’t good. It was hard, uncooked and tasted weird. My sister started crying and I tried to calm her by saying we could add thyme to it and eat it that way.