Like the majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants, Tahany Nasr was homeless as a result of Israel’s military campaign against Hamas and was living in a tent camp in Rafah. His sole concern was where to get enough food and water for everyone to survive another day.
She claimed that because her kids weren’t eating enough, they had lost weight and were experiencing dizziness.
Pleading for Food to Feed My Kids
“I’ve been pleading for food to feed my kids, but nothing comes to me. They tell me to go to the mosque when I go to Social Affairs. I went to the mosque, they say, go to the Affairs,” she remarked, alluding to the welfare ministry in Gaza, which often arranges for the delivery of necessities like flour to those who are struggling.
Among the several issues that hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians in Gaza are confronting, hunger has emerged as the most urgent one. The chaos of war has caused an uneven distribution of supplies, and aid trucks are only able to bring in a small portion of what is required.
People in extreme need of food have stopped some vehicles and plundered them, although large portions of the damaged area remain inaccessible due to ongoing fighting.
The lack of clean water and food is so bad that it is driving people to become sick and lose weight, even in Rafah, where relief vehicles can enter and where the Israeli army has instructed civilians to seek shelter.
“People arriving malnourished is something we have begun to notice,” stated Rafah’s primary care physician Samia Abu Salah.
According to her, anemia and weight loss were prevalent, and since people were malnourished and dehydrated, they were more prone to skin disorders and chest infections. Children and babies were especially vulnerable, and this would stunt their growth.
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“My kids told me they were craving chicken just now. Where might I get chicken from them? Where? Am I aware? Nasr sobbed as she spoke, pleading with Allah to save them.
“It has been two days since we received any food. How can I trick my kids? along with some pasta? A little stew made of lentils? If only I could locate it!” she exclaimed, adding that she had occasionally turned to preparing meals with just onions.
Nasr entered her tent to get the can of peas she claimed to have been given by a compassionate man, even though he had purchased it for himself. “This is the last one. We just have this can for the day,” she yelled, raising her voice in annoyance as she held it up.
Story Provided by Nasr
The story provided by Nasr, far from being an isolated incident, mirrored the experiences of other interviewees who talked with Reuters in Rafah and other locations. People talked of rationing water, eating only once a day, having inadequate meals with inadequate nutrition, and having diarrheal diarrhea in children from drinking contaminated water.
Since Hamas resistance fighters attacked Gaza on October 7 to protest their forced relocation and recover their ancestral land from Israeli settlers, Israel has wreaked havoc on the region’s humanitarian situation. For the past 75 years, Israel has been displacing Palestinians and using violent settlement tactics against them.
Israel had killed 20,000 Palestinians in two months with its merciless onslaught, the most of them were women and children. It is estimated that 8,000 Gazans are missing, buried beneath the debris of buildings hit by Israeli aircraft.
Everyone is traumatized by the experience of starvation, according to Maha Al-Alami, a displaced mother with eight children and grandchildren who are taking refuge in a school in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
“I’m telling you, the Palestinian people ought to consult with psychiatrists after the war, God willing.