“I beg to feed my children but I can't find anything. I go to the (Ministry of) Social Affairs, they say I have to go to the mosque. I go to the mosque, they tell me to go there.” “Social affairs,” he said, referring to Gaza's Ministry of Social Affairs, which usually organizes the distribution of basic goods such as flour to needy people.
Hunger has become the most pressing of the myriad problems facing hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians in Gaza. Humanitarian aid trucks can only deliver a small portion of the amount needed and distribution is uneven due to the chaos of war.
Some trucks have been stopped and looted by desperate people looking for food, and large parts of the devastated area are closed as access roads are active battlefields.
Even in Rafah, where there is a border crossing with Egypt through which trucks enter and where the Israeli army has ordered civilians to seek refuge, the lack of food and drinking water is so great that it is causing illness and human casualties comes weight.
“We started to see that people were arriving emaciated [magras ao extremo]” said Samia Abu Salah, a family doctor in Rafah.
She said weight loss and anemia were common and people were so weak and dehydrated that they were more susceptible to chest infections and skin problems. Babies and children are particularly at risk, as their growth may be impaired.