‘My children sleep hungry’
Millions of Gazans are facing a terrible humanitarian crisis. The occupying Israeli army has not allowed any aid to enter Gaza for more than 10 weeks. In addition to food and medicine, the residents there are living inhumane lives without food.
On Friday (May 16), the British media outlet BBC presented a pitiful picture of the people of Gaza in a report.
Six-year-old Gazan child Ismail Abu Odeh was shouting with a bowl in his hand in a crowd at a food distribution center in northern Gaza, saying, ‘Give me something.’ Some pulses were put in his bowl. But when he was returning, the food fell out of his hands in the crowd. He returned to his family’s tent crying.
Later, a teacher who was able to bring some food shared some food with Ismail. The BBC says that the next day, no more food or water reached Ismail’s camp. He lives in a refugee camp built in a school building. There were empty bottles and bowls near the crowd. Ismail cried again that day.
Israel has stepped up its military campaign in the Gaza Strip. The BBC has spoken to several Gazans over the past two days, as it continues to blockade food, medical supplies and other aid for more than 10 weeks.
The UN and other agencies say Gazans are on the brink of famine. While the Israeli government insists there is “no shortage” of food in Gaza, “the real crisis is Hamas looting and selling aid.” Gazans tell a different story.
They told the BBC on WhatsApp and by phone that they are struggling to get even one meal a day. Many kitchens have closed. The prices of what is available in the market are beyond the reach of ordinary people.
A volunteer in Gaza said, “My kitchen closed 10 days ago.” He said the helplessness is beyond words. “Weakness and fatigue are increasing due to the lack of food and medicine,” said a 23-year-old woman living in northern Gaza.
Adham al-Batrawi, 31, formerly of the popular city of al-Zahra, is now displaced in central Gaza. Hunger is “one of the most difficult parts of daily life,” he said.
People “have to be creative to survive,” he said. He boils pasta and kneads it into something similar to bread. “We are discovering ways to eat in ways we never imagined before,” he said.
The food we have been eating recently is “enough to get us through the day, but not enough to meet our energy needs,” he added.
