Watan-“We walk on foot, consuming a quarter and a half of bread a day, and we sleep with hunger.” These harsh and painful words are narrated by a Palestinian child who has been displaced from the city of Gaza to the south, telling the story of hunger due to the war and the Israeli occupation’s blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip for the 74th consecutive day.
The Palestinian child, Ahmed Al-Khaldi, says in a video circulated by Palestinian activists on social media platforms, “My name is Ahmed Muhammad Al-Khaldi. I came from Gaza as a displaced person. I came here to eat because in Gaza, there is only a little food, and it is expensive.”
We eat a quarter and a half of bread a day
“We don’t have anything to eat. We walk on foot, consuming a quarter and a half of bread a day, and for dinner, we satisfy ourselves with something simple just to get through the rest of our day and sleep with hunger.”
The child Ahmed concludes his narration about hunger in Gaza, “When we go to sleep in Gaza, I tell my mom that I want to eat, and she tells me to be quiet because there is no food at all. There are no life essentials.”
The Israeli occupation imposed a comprehensive blockade on the Gaza Strip since the beginning of its declaration of war on the 7th of October last, following the heroic operation carried out by the Palestinian resistance against all Israeli settlements occupied in 1948 in the Gaza Strip. This blockade includes a complete lack of water, electricity, and communication, rendering Gaza isolated from the outside world.
The shortage of humanitarian aid in Gaza
The markets in the Gaza Strip are empty of essential goods and food items such as flour, sugar, yeast, and legumes, and if available, they are in very small quantities and at high prices that the displaced Gazan citizen cannot afford as they move from one place to another, fleeing their homes.
Moreover, the humanitarian aid that entered the Gaza Strip during the recent humanitarian ceasefire for about a week represents a drop in the ocean in light of the needs of the city’s residents amid the Israeli war, the blockade imposed on them from all directions, and the continuous shelling from all sides.
The Israeli occupation committed heinous massacres against civilians, including children, women, and the elderly, by bombing residential neighborhoods, buildings, and schools that sheltered refugees and hospitals, without prior warning.
According to the toll issued by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza until this moment, more than 19,000 Palestinian martyrs, mostly civilians, have been killed, and more than 51,000 have been injured with various wounds. Thousands are still missing under the rubble of destroyed homes due to the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza.