Displaced Palestinian children gather to receive food at a government school in the Gaza Strip (French)

Palestinian Ahmed Shabat (33 years old) was unable to get breakfast after a long wait in a line serving free food in one of the displacement schools in the Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip.

Young Ahmed found himself waiting in a long line with a large number of displaced people to get vegetable soup, but the limited quantities of food were not enough to meet everyone’s needs.

Ahmed feels helpless and confused because he is unable to obtain the necessary food for his children, who are waiting for him in one of the classrooms of the school to which they were displaced, and he is now forced to return to them empty-handed.

The young Palestinian man, who hails from the town of Beit Hanoun, was forced to flee his home at the beginning of the devastating war due to Israeli air strikes that have not stopped since the seventh of last October.

His family, consisting of 8 members, including his parents, suffers from malnutrition due to the scarcity of food even in the month of Ramadan, due to the stifling siege imposed on the Gaza Strip, which led to a famine that claimed the lives of some residents of the Strip.

After returning to his family from the waiting line empty-handed, Ahmed and his family sat down to eat breakfast, which was limited to a little thyme and water, excluding the free vegetable soup that they were counting on as the main meal to break their fast with.

In an interview with Anadolu Agency, Ahmed says, “The situation in the northern Gaza Strip is tragic, as there is not enough food to feed the displaced.”

He continues, "The places of displacement in Jabalia are crowded with residents who cannot provide food, and there are many families who were unable to obtain food today because what is available is not sufficient to meet the needs of the large numbers of displaced people who flocked to the distribution site to obtain what would satisfy their needs during Ramadan."

Disappointment

In the displacement school where Ahmed Shabat and his family live, hundreds of displaced Palestinians, including children and women, lined up before the sunset call to prayer, in front of a large pot of soup, waiting for a meal to take back to their families to break their fast.

But what the pot contains, despite its huge size, is not enough to meet the needs of the large number of displaced people who have crowded the place.

Many of the fasting people, who had waited patiently in line for hours, were forced to return to their families without getting anything to satisfy their needs after a long day of fasting. The soup ran out, the level of frustration among the displaced rose, and the sparkle that shone in the eyes of some children disappeared as they returned to their stairs with empty utensils.

One of the young men who was waiting in line, whose name is Fayez Fadl, told Anadolu Agency, "We were not able to get food to feed our family today, as is the case with many displaced people."

He expresses his hope that the war will end soon and that he and other displaced people in the Strip, who number more than a million people, will return to the warmth of their homes, as people here are starving to death due to the scarcity of food.

The displaced Palestinian Fayez also expresses his hope that humanitarian aid will reach the northern Gaza Strip to alleviate the impact of the famine affecting the residents of those areas.

Statistics from the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip indicate that at least 27 Palestinians died in northern Gaza due to malnutrition and dehydration, including infants.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) had sounded the alarm and warned that hunger had spread in Gaza.

The UN agency confirmed that the situation in northern Gaza is tragic, as Israel prevents the entry of ground aid into the Strip, despite repeated calls and international appeals to allow humanitarian aid to enter the Strip’s population.

Source: Anadolu Agency