With Ramadan over, Palestinians say finding and affordable food in Gaza is a challenge
As Muslims in Gaza prepare to commemorate Eid on this weekend and at the end of Ramadan, families say they have little to make ends meet and have no food to enter the territory for nearly a month.
Rania Hegazy, 38, currently living in a tent in Gaza city with her husband and three children, and last week Israeli troops ordered the evacuation of Beit Lahiya in northern North Gaza.
Hegazy told CBC Press Freedom photographer Mohamed El Saife on Thursday at the tent camp.
“The last Ramadan was awful, but it was even worse.”
Nearly a month after Israel has caused all aid and commodities to enter Gaza, humanitarian groups say their food supply is gradually decreasing as food prices soar. Finding food to feed your family is becoming increasingly challenging every day, especially during Ramadan, which is a form of worship during the month of Ramadan, from dawn to sunset, thousands of Muslims around the world are a form of worship, Hegz said.
“It’s been a year and a half since I’ve been forced to move from one place to another. My kids have suffered a lot,” she said.
Eid (literally, it all bursts quickly in Arabic and marks the end of Ramadan – expected to arrive on Sunday. Hegazy said she knew it was hard to tell her children (children between four and six years old) when they asked for clothes or toys.
“Eid? There is no Eid.
“My daughter asked me to make a new dress for Eid…simple, top or clothes, but I can’t buy it for her,” she said.
Last year, the family’s shelter in northern Gaza, most of the population was ordered to flee to the south due to heavy Israeli bombings.
Hegazy said they could break the fast with anything they could find – usually rice and some kind of canned food. Thursday, it was rice and a bowl of macaroni beans next to them, and another family in their tent camp shared with them.
“Today, we found a portion of the rice, thank God for what we did,” she said. “We couldn’t find rice to eat during Ramadan last year – there was a lot of hunger.”
Food prices soar as supply decreases
Last week, Israel resumed bombing and ground operations in Gaza, breaking into a two-month-old ceasefire on terms that extended its extension. Two weeks ago, it reiterated the ban on humanitarian aid entering Gaza. It said the measures were intended to force Hamas to release the rest of the hostages. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly threatened to seize armed groups and refuse to return to their territory.
Before the war, families usually had parties and cook during Ramadan – mainly meat, salads and soup, Hegaz said. She said they would prepare fruit plates, Qatayef – A Middle Eastern dessert similar to a small pancake – is usually stuffed with cheese, cream or nuts, then fried or baked and soaked in syrup.
But prices for all food have soared in the Gaza Strip since the start of the lockdown.
She said, like many in Gaza, her husband was unemployed and could not make money during the war.
“Their father sat here. No job. Nothing, we were just sitting here and we were forced to move from one place to another.”
Ramadan Ramadan says households who fasted during Ramadan have struggled with sales dropping and prices soaring after Israel created nearly a month of lockdown on goods entering Gaza.
“I crave salads and we can’t even buy cucumbers or tomatoes. But thank God for everything, the most important thing is that my family is safe.”
According to the World Food Program (WFP), a 25-kilogram wheat flour sold for as much as $71, a 400% increase compared to the price before March 18.
Children drawing food on the beach
Palestinian Muslims in Gaza were in a similar dilemma last year – under the ongoing Israeli bombing, scraping enough food together during Ramadan during Ramadan to be at the speed of iftar during Ramadan, as supply from surrounded enclaves dangerously low.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, at least 855 Palestinians have been killed and 1,869 injured since the Israeli air strikes resumed last week. More than half of them are women and children, the ministry said.
Abubaker Abed of Palestinian Freedom Journalist said the children in Gaza were so hungry that they painted pictures of food on the beach.
“My friend told me today that he had been watching food videos because he wanted a plate of meat or fish.” postal Tuesday X.
According to Israeli Tales (Israeli), thousands of Hamas-led gunmen attacked the Israeli community on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, and according to Israelis, 251 hostages were kidnapped to Gaza. Fifty-nine hostages were still occupied there, 24 of them were considered alive.
According to Palestinian health authorities, the Israeli campaign has killed more than 49,000 people, and thousands are believed to remain under rubble.
Gaza people are at risk of severe hunger and malnutrition again
Thousands of people in Gaza are once again at risk of severe hunger and malnutrition, with no aid as a decline in humanitarian food stocks in the enclave, WFP said in a press release on Thursday.
The United Nations Office said it has about 5,700 tons of food left in Gaza, enough to support its operations for two weeks.
“As security situation worsens, people are rapidly displaced, and growing demand, WFP has decided to distribute food as soon as possible in Gaza locations,” WFP said.
The agency said it currently supports bakeries making bread, cooking hot meals in the kitchen, and distributing food parcels directly to families, all facing “record low” stocks inside Gaza.
Mansoura Marouf, who lives with her husband at the same tent camp in Gaza City, said they have been relying on neighbors who share food with other families.
In the early days of the war, the 52-year-old lost only two sons, leaving seven now-brained children between them.
“It was Ramadan we quickly broke into the streets and our backs were broken,” Maruf said.
“My child has passed away and we have been scrambling to shelter. This Ramadan is dark. This Eid is dark.”
