This Festive Season, Gaza Is Starving
PALESTINE - ISRAEL, 30 Dec 2024
Esraa Abo Qamar | Al Jazeera - TRANSCEND Media Service
Palestinian children wait for a food portion at a distribution centre in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 17 Dec 2024. [Bashar Taleb/AFP]
18 Dec 2024 – Winter has made life amid genocide all the more miserable for us.
Winter has now come to the Northern Hemisphere and has ushered in a festive mood in many places. In Gaza, it has brought more misery. The cold weather and rain have made the lives of the 1.9 million Palestinians displaced in Gaza that much more unbearable.
It has rained hard several times already. Each time, tents of the displaced have been flooded, damaged, or destroyed, and what little some have had, has been taken away by the floodwaters.
Many of the displaced had run away from the bombs with just the clothes on their backs. Some have tried to salvage clothes from the rubble, but few have succeeded.
As winter approached, the prices of clothes skyrocketed. A light pyjama now costs $95; a coat – as much as $100. A pair of shoes – a rare commodity – can go for as much as $75. Second-hand clothes markets have appeared throughout Gaza to address overwhelming demand, but the prices there are also too high.
As a result, the camps are full of people shuddering in the cold in thin summer clothes. Children walk around barefoot in the mud and puddles.
Fuel for heating, which is either unavailable or unaffordable for most families. The cost of 8kg of gas has reached $72. Wood is a bit less, but also too expensive for most.
The lack of clothes and fuel for heating is increasing the risk of colds, flu and other diseases during the winter which in Gaza can become life-threatening. A malnourished, vulnerable body, exhausted by fear and trauma, struggles even against a simple cold.
Gaza’s hospitals are barely functioning, taking care mostly of people gravely wounded in the bombardment. Suffering from a lack of supplies and staff, they can no longer provide care for simple illnesses.
Diseases are spreading also because hygiene has also become nearly impossible to maintain. Living in in tents, without access to warm water, the displaced cannot shower or sometimes even wash their hands. A bar of soap is now $5, while a bottle of shampoo can be as much as $23.
But perhaps the most unbearable fact of life in Gaza now is the famine. The amount of humanitarian aid that has entered Gaza has significantly decreased since October and we have felt its devastating impact across the Strip. It is not just the north that is experiencing famine. All of Gaza is.
The price of what little food is available is beyond belief. A single sack of flour now costs more than $300. Other foodstuffs have also become expensive. A kilo (2.2 pounds) of lentils or a kilo of rice is $7. Vegetables are hard to find and also very expensive; 1kg of tomatoes is $14; a single onion is $2. Red meat and chicken cannot be found at all. We have not seen any for months.
The bakeries that were once a lifeline for families are closed because they can’t get supplies. Bread, the simplest and most basic of foods, has become a luxury few of us can afford. Even if a family is able to get flour, it is often infested with bugs and tastes stale.
People are now forced to rely on “takaya” – charity soup kitchens – that provide small portions of food that are barely enough for a family. These organisations open at 11:00am, which results in large queues forming in front of their distribution centres. Most families who manage to get a meal from them have nothing else to feed their children.
Hunger is not just limited to the physical pain that starving people experience. It also has an unbearable psychological impact. Parents are forced to watch their children cry for food during the long, cold nights. Some parents have also had to watch their children die from starvation. This psychological torment cannot compare to anything else.
As I write these words, I am starving myself, having eaten nothing since morning. As I look around me, I see children and adults, pale and thin, exhausted by hunger and cold. I wonder how much more they can take; how much more any of us can take?
The cruellest part of this suffering is the silence of the world that watches from afar but doesn’t act. As the cold bites us and the hunger makes it worse, we are feeling isolated and abandoned, like we have been cut off from the rest of humanity. And as much of the world prepares for a holiday season, we prepare to face loneliness, despair and death.
_________________________________________________________
Esraa Abo Qamar is a Palestinian writer based in Gaza. She is an English literature student at the Islamic University of Gaza.
Go to Original – aljazeera.com
Tags: Children, Crimes against Humanity, Gaza, Genocide, Human Rights, Hunger, Israel, War crimes
Join the BDS-BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS campaign to protest the Israeli barbaric siege of Gaza, illegal occupation of the Palestine nation’s territory, the apartheid wall, its inhuman and degrading treatment of the Palestinian people, and the more than 7,000 Palestinian men, women, elderly and children arbitrarily locked up in Israeli prisons.
DON’T BUY PRODUCTS WHOSE BARCODE STARTS WITH 729, which indicates that it is produced in Israel. DO YOUR PART! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
7 2 9: BOYCOTT FOR JUSTICE!
DISCLAIMER: The statements, views and opinions expressed in pieces republished here are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of TMS. In accordance with title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. TMS has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is TMS endorsed or sponsored by the originator. “GO TO ORIGINAL” links are provided as a convenience to our readers and allow for verification of authenticity. However, as originating pages are often updated by their originating host sites, the versions posted may not match the versions our readers view when clicking the “GO TO ORIGINAL” links. This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Join the discussion!
We welcome debate and dissent, but personal — ad hominem — attacks (on authors, other users or any individual), abuse and defamatory language will not be tolerated. Nor will we tolerate attempts to deliberately disrupt discussions. We aim to maintain an inviting space to focus on intelligent interactions and debates.