GAZA CITY — Before the war, Gaza had 2,120 bakeries and consumed 14,000 tons of flour every month, according to the Palestinian statistics bureau. Now, more than eight months into the Israel-Hamas war, almost all gas-operated bakeries in Gaza have been destroyed, damaged or have stopped working due to a lack of fuel, Government Media Office said.
For the latest news & views from every corner of the world, Worldcrunch Today is the only truly international newsletter. Sign up here.
Since the closure of the Rafah crossing, when Israel took over the Palestinian side last month, cooking gas has also been scarce. Faced with this shortage of resources, Palestinians in Gaza are resorting to primitive means to stay alive: They are using clay ovens fueled by firewood from destroyed homes to cook their food.
Some have also begun to use their ovens as a source of livelihood, baking bread and selling it to neighbors and displaced people using “pay what you want” pricing.
The only means
“Clay ovens are the only means we can resort to in order to compensate for the severe shortage of bread, in light of its high prices that are beyond our capabilities,” said Muhammad Abed, who used to get bread from a nearby bakery. But the soaring prices have made it impossible for him to buy bread for his children. His family now bakes their own bread in a clay oven using firewood.
“People are forced to ration bread and eat it once a day, when it is available.”
In addition to high flour prices, bakeries are unable to keep up with demand due to a lack of cooking gas. Khalil Thabet notes that most displaced people are unable to get bread from bakeries, saying “The capacity of bakeries is much less than people’s needs, in light of the lack of cooking gas. People are forced to ration bread and eat it once a day, when it is available.”
Scenes of 1948
Displaced people without clay ovens are turning to people who own one to bake bread for a small amount of money, or in exchange for bringing with them firewood — which is also scarce.
“Naturally, there is no firewood in Gaza,” said Salama Abdel Hakim, a lawyer who used to sell firewood to such families.
“Without destroyed homes, people would not be able to collect firewood,” he said, explaining that he purchases it from those who collect it from destroyed houses and furniture. He said people risk their lives to collect firewood from the abandoned homes. A package of firewood costs up to 4 shekels.
Umm Abdullah, a displaced woman from Rafah, built a clay oven with cardboard, nylon, plastic, and whatever firewood she could provide for baking bread. She bakes all day, and what she earns barely covers their needs.
The scene today is a repetition of the 1948 Nakba, when displaced Palestinians used clay ovens for baking.
Disastrous fumes
In addition to the relentless bombing, there are reports of fires in shelters and tent camps mostly due to wood fires for cooking.
Dr. Mohammed al-Madhoun, a pulmonologist at the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, said smoke from the bombing and from plastic and other materials used for baking can cause significant respiratory damage.
“Inhaling these toxic substances continuously and in large quantities — in addition to the pollutants from the Israeli bombing — results in cases of suffocation and a severe lack of oxygen in the blood, which causes death,” he said, noting that dust and smoke from plastic, “can lead to pulmonary obstruction, and in many cases to severe irritation in the lungs, accompanied by an inability to clean themselves, and thus the formation of cancers.”
