Famine Haunts the People of Gaza. Israel Is Trying to Convince You It's Fake.
Palestinians line up for a meal in Beit Lahia in the Gaza Strip on April 24, 2025. Photo: Ramez Habboub/Abaca/Sipa USA via AP Images
As a survivor of Israel's genocidal war on Gaza, it breaks me to watch my people struggle to find something to fill their stomachs.
Israel's deliberate policy of starvation continues to tighten its grip on the enclave. Humanitarian organizations have sounded the alarm, warning that Gaza is on the verge of full-scale famine.
Since Israel shattered the ceasefire on March 18 and sealed its blockade, 2.1 million Palestinians in Gaza have been cut off from essential food and aid. As the World Food Programme and UNRWA have recently announced that their stocks of flour and food are depleted, the risk of widespread starvation grows with each passing day.
I lived through the first wave of starvation in Gaza in the early months of 2024, a time when Israeli-imposed aid restrictions drove hunger to catastrophic levels. Everyone across the Strip experienced severe food shortages, with empty plates becoming a daily scene. I was forced to leave Gaza alone in February 2024 and flee to Egypt, after nearly five months of relentless bombardment and siege. At the height of the famine, I lost 16 kilograms.
Since then, I have devoted myself to fighting against Israeli propaganda, narratives that distort the truth, downplay Palestinian suffering, and mock the agony Gazans endure.
While I investigate Israeli disinformation, I carry the emotional weight of seeing the pain of my family still trapped in Gaza. Like nearly every household there, my family is running out of food and flour. Each video call painfully reveals their shrinking bodies, thinned by hunger.
A study conducted in late December 2024 found that the average person in Gaza has lost around 18 kilograms due to severe food insecurity during the war. The situation has only worsened since.
The Israeli blockade that began on March 2 has driven food prices beyond reach. My father told me last week that a 25-kilogram bag of flour now costs around 200 U.S. dollars. This week, the price has climbed to $470.
I have seen videos of families grinding pasta and lentils to make makeshift bread for their starving children after running out of flour. For many, lentil bread is not a choice but a last resort under a starvation diet imposed by the Israeli occupation.
After my family returned to our bombed-out home in the northern Gaza Strip in January of this year, my brother Fahmy built a makeshift oven fueled by firewood to bake bread for our family and neighbors. With all major bakeries shut down due to the flour shortage, his small act of resistance became a vital lifeline.
Fahmy has been baking for over a month, helping those around him. He told me last week, 'Fewer people come because flour is no longer available. Those who still do often bring bug-infested flour, the only thing they have left to feed their children.'
With food increasingly scarce in Gaza, much of the population now depends on tekias — community kitchens — for a single daily meal. These tekias, often limited to serving plain lentils, pasta, or rice, have had to reduce portions due to Israel's blockade on food and cooking gas.
Amjad Al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network, has warned that many tekias are on the brink of shutting down as food supplies dwindle.
I watch daily footage of people queuing and stampeding, and children crying, to receive a small meal. These heartbreaking scenes are undeniable evidence of Israel's weaponization of starvation.
Even these few vital tekias have not been spared from Israeli attacks. Gaza's Government Media Office reported that the Israeli military has targeted and bombed 29 tekias since the war began.
Many Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to eat any animal they can find to get some protein. Shocking videos, verified by myself and my colleagues in the press, show people consuming sea turtles, horses, and even hedgehogs to survive.
A story that deeply moved me was that of a child, Omar Qannan, who said he had eaten turtle meat despite his love for Raphael, the superhero from 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.'
It is devastating to imagine how Omar will ever watch his favorite cartoon character again without remembering that hunger once forced him to eat an animal he saw as a heroic friend.
Israeli trolls have waged an intensive hasbara, or propaganda, campaign to deny the famine ravaging Gaza, even at its peak in February 2024. These denials persist, despite repeated warnings from international organizations that Gaza is edging closer to famine and the evidence in front of our eyes.
On April 20, an X user, notorious for spreading Israeli propaganda, posted a video of a man sitting by the beach in Gaza, alleging he was enjoying a 'large kebab meal' during the crisis. The user intentionally skipped the fact that the man was eating horse meat.
Another post stunned me: It came from 'Gazawood,' a systematic campaign aiming to mock, discredit, and deny Palestinian suffering. The video showed a woman in Gaza grinding pasta to bake bread for her children. The Israeli propagandist accused the woman of staging her story for the camera instead of trying to feed her starving family.
On May 12, 2024, I debunked a viral video intending to discredit the case of Fadi al-Zant, a child from Gaza who was suffering from malnutrition before fleeing the Strip for urgent medical treatment.
Trolls cruelly accused his mother of deliberately starving him to stage a 'Pallywood' scene. Some atrocity denials weaponized her appearance to cast doubt on her child's suffering.
These malicious insinuations ignore the basic truth that children are especially vulnerable during famine. Their bodies weaken more rapidly and face a significantly higher risk of death in hunger crises, as stated by the International Rescue Committee.
The United Nations reported nearly 3,700 children were diagnosed with severe malnutrition last month alone, an 82 percent rise since February.
Recent videos of severely malnourished children, like baby Siwar Ashour and 12-year-old Rahaf Ayad, continue to haunt me.
Without urgent medical evacuation, these children may not survive. Without immediate and sustained delivery of food and aid, more children will fall victim to hunger and face the lifelong health consequences of starvation.
Israeli officials are lying to our faces. On July 24, 2024, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood before the U.S. Congress and refuted Israel's role in obstructing humanitarian aid to Gaza. Despite being riddled with misleading claims, his speech drew applause from U.S. lawmakers who chose to overlook the catastrophic humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza.
I have tracked several organizations affiliated with the Israeli government that have actively spread fake news and hate speech during the war.
Among them is HonestReporting, a hasbara group claiming to be a media watchdog exposing anti-Israel bias.
The group worked to deny the famine in Gaza and undermine the credibility of independent experts. It dismissed the findings of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report, which warned that famine in Gaza was imminent by mid-March 2024. Rather than presenting the evidence, HonestReporting relied on cherry-picked evidence to discredit the report's conclusions.
Israeli extremist officials have consistently denied the existence of famine among Palestinians in Gaza, while simultaneously pushing for harsher measures to block food and aid from reaching the besieged population.
Although international organizations have repeatedly warned about the imminent threat of famine, these officials have not stopped inciting hate speech and ignoring the suffering of Gaza's population.
Israeli officials frame starvation and the blockade as strategic necessities.
Using soft language, Israeli officials frame starvation and the blockade as strategic necessities. On April 16, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stated, 'No humanitarian aid to enter Gaza,' to pressure ceasefire negotiations.
Around the same time, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said, 'Not a single grain of wheat will enter Gaza.'
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir went even further, recently calling for the Israeli forces to bomb food storage facilities in Gaza.
Read our complete coverage
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
8 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Internet and phone outage in much of Gaza disrupts humanitarian operations and deepens isolation
CAIRO (AP) — A breakdown in communications networks in central and southern Gaza has cut many Palestinians off from the outside world for the past week, further straining aid efforts and emergency services amid continuing Israeli bombardment. Israeli strikes damaged a main connection, cutting off communications in large areas of the strip since Tuesday, according to the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The telecom company Paltel said Friday that internet and landline services were restored in some areas in southern Gaza, including Khan Younis, with repairs ongoing in other southern and central areas. Paltel warned in a statement to AP that ongoing attacks on the main network could make future maintenance impossible, especially due to a shortage of essential materials and resources. The Gaza Strip has experienced at least 10 communications partial and full outages since the war began in October 2023, according to Palestinian telecom company Paltel. This week's outage has impacted aid efforts, emergency services, suspended academic classes, and cut off displaced Palestinians from the rest of the territory. Palestinians in Gaza rely heavily on cell service, as unsafe roads and fuel shortages limit movement across the enclave. Humanitarians say those in affected areas will struggle to access information on aid and medical services or call for ambulances. 'Telecoms have been used as a weapon of war against civilians,' said Juliette Touma, communications director at UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugee that is the main service provider in Gaza. The vast majority of UNRWA workers don't have connectivity in the areas affected by the outages. As a result, they and other aid workers have struggled to deliver aid and coordinate with one another, Touma told the AP. 'Sometimes we get a signal when a team member has the courage to go on the rooftop of a building, which is extremely dangerous under strikes, and they send us a message that they're alive. I can't tell you how much of a relief it is, but they're more sporadic and less regular,' said Touma. Some people rely on E-sims, but they are not compatible with all devices and can only work in certain areas. Unreliable mobile service Over 70% of telecommunications networks in Gaza has been partially or completely destroyed as of August 2024 since the war began, according to statistics released by the Palestinian Ministry of Telecommunication and Digital Economy, cited by the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute. However, Paltel said technical teams offered some technical solutions that would restore services. When they hear nearby strikes, Palestinians without connection don't know whether evacuation orders are issued and where should they relocate to, said Shaina Low, the Norwegian Refugee Council's communications adviser. 'This also means that people are isolated. They can't communicate with their family and friends inside of Gaza and understand what the current situation is or get external support from networks outside,' she said. Limited or unreliable mobile service has made it difficult for ambulances and civil defense teams to reach people in need of life-saving assistance, Low added. Fikr Shalltoot, Gaza director for the group Medical Aid for Palestinians, said its doctors working in hospitals and clinics in effected areas can't document or share their work with managers. 'Targeted daily' Meanwhile, with Gaza's university campuses heavily damaged, the internet has become the only way to continue education. But outages have forced educators to cancel classes and exams. 'It is, unfortunately, like a never-ending vicious cycle of suffering because when this issue is resolved in the north, the problem appears in the south,' said Mohammed Shbair, vice president for administrative and financial affairs, at al-Azhar University in Gaza. 'Students cannot reach universities because they are destroyed, and they can't even reach areas where the internet is available in cafes or displacement tents, as they are now being targeted daily and systematically by Israeli strikes,' said Shbair, an associate professor of public law. Online banking, a key alternative amid cash shortages, has also become unavailable. Palestinians who rely on online transfers to pay suppliers can no longer do so under the current conditions, according to Low. The outage complicates humanitarian operations and adds to the 'toxic stress' families face daily, said UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram. 'In a context of incessant bombardments, mass casualty events linked to food distributions, rising malnutrition and dwindling access to clean water, connectivity is a real lifeline for families in Gaza,' she said.
Boston Globe
3 days ago
- Boston Globe
‘I'll never try again': For some Palestinians in Gaza, seeking aid is just too risky
Advertisement In a Nearly every day, large crowds of desperate and hungry Palestinians flock to the few aid distribution points left in Gaza, waiting for hours and jostling for a place in the line to get food before it runs out. Palestinians carried sacks and boxes of food and humanitarian aid that was unloaded from a World Food Program convoy in the northern Gaza Strip, on Monday. Jehad Alshrafi/Associated Press Some of the aid sites began operating a few weeks ago under a controversial new Israeli-backed system run by an American-led company, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. It replaces a system overseen by the United Nations, and Israel says its aim is to provide food to civilians without it falling into the hands of Hamas militants. Advertisement The United Nations and other international groups have said the amount of aid getting through is woefully inadequate. They have also condemned the new system for forcing civilians to pass Israeli soldiers on the perimeter of the sites to reach the food, putting them in greater danger. In recent weeks, Israeli forces have repeatedly used deadly force to control crowds on the approaches to the aid sites, forcing many Gaza residents to choose between letting their families go hungry or risking getting shot. 'The danger is too high for me to go to these centers,' Awni Abu Hassira, 38, from Gaza City, said in a phone interview. 'I don't want to face death this way.' Videos shared on social media and verified by the Times showed the aftermath of the violence Tuesday in Khan Younis, where crowds of people had gathered around the Tahlia traffic circle to wait for aid early in the day. In one video by a local photographer, at least 20 bodies are visible on darkened ground where blood is pooling. Two of the bodies are severely mangled, and two other people have bleeding head wounds. Other footage circulating on social media and reviewed by the Times shows people screaming and yelling as crowds run through the area. The Israeli military said that 'a gathering was identified adjacent to an aid distribution truck that got stuck in the area of Khan Younis' near Israeli forces operating in the area. The United Nations and other aid groups are still sending some aid into Gaza, and it was not immediately clear which aid group the truck was linked to. Advertisement Asked about the deadly incidents Monday and Tuesday, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said in a statement that its distribution sites were not involved. Other aid organizations, the statement said, 'struggle to deliver aid safely' and are at risk of looting. Palestinians carried sacks and boxes of food and humanitarian aid unloaded from a World Food Program convoy on Monday. Jehad Alshrafi/Associated Press The Israeli statement, using the abbreviation for the Israel Defense Forces, said it was 'aware of reports regarding a number of injured individuals from IDF fire following the crowd's approach.' It said the military 'regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals.' Israel also said that two of its soldiers had been killed in combat in southern Gaza in recent days. On both Monday and Tuesday, some victims were taken to a hospital in Khan Younis. On Monday, Naseem Hassan, a medic at a hospital in Khan Younis, described the difficulty of aiding people who were shot as they tried to collect food from a nearby aid distribution point. He said scores of Palestinian victims had been rushed to his hospital. 'People who are injured have to crawl or be carried for over a kilometer to reach us,' said Hassan, who works at Nasser Hospital. 'We couldn't reach the aid centers; ambulances can't get there,' he said. The International Committee of the Red Cross said Monday that one of its field hospitals had treated more than 200 people after the shootings near the aid site. The United Nations has warned that Gaza's population is on the brink of famine, with thousands of children already severely malnourished. 'The facts speak for themselves,' said Volker Türk, the U.N. human rights chief. Speaking in Geneva on Monday, he called Israel's military campaign in Gaza a source of 'horrifying, unconscionable suffering.' Advertisement 'All those with influence must exert maximum pressure on Israel and Hamas to put an end to this unbearable suffering,' he said. Palestinians who were injured in Israeli fire near a food aid center receive care at Khan Yunis' Nasser hospital in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday. -/AFP via Getty Images This article originally appeared in .
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Photos show crowds of desperate Palestinians struggling to get food
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hardly any food has entered northern Gaza for nearly four months. So when a rare convoy of aid trucks entered this week, gigantic crowds of desperate Palestinians were waiting for it. They massed on what was once Gaza's coastal highway, now a vast stretch of dirt bulldozed by Israeli troops and surrounded by the ruins of bombardment. The convoy from the World Food Program had been heading to Gaza City, but it was quickly stripped almost bare. Men and women walked off with bags of flour slung over their shoulders or carrying boxes of food. Israel has allowed only a trickle of aid into Gaza for the U.N. to distribute since Israel eased a total blockade last month. Israel says the blockade is meant to pressure Hamas, but it has led to widespread food shortages and famine warnings for the population of over 2 million. The U.N. says it struggles to get even the small amount of aid directly to Palestinians because of Israeli military restrictions, looting by armed criminals and incidents like this of Palestinians overwhelming trucks. ___ This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
