A Mother’s Pain, A Hungry Child — Gaza Voices On The Verge Of Famine

KHAN YOUNIS — All goods and humanitarian aid have been blocked from entering Gaza for more than two months. On March 2, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu closed all crossings and imposed the blockade after talks to prolong a six-week ceasefire broke down. The move was not only political: It was also a practical declaration of the beginning of an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.

Gaza — under siege for more than 17 years and exhausted by more than a year and a half of war — has become completely dependent on international aid. The effects of the blockade began to appear from the very first days, leading to a severe hunger crisis that is now threatening the lives of more than 2 million people.

Gaza lacks any infrastructure capable of storing or producing food, and more than 75% of agricultural land bulldozed and turned into red zones, which the Israeli army prevents Gaza’s citizens from accessing. Due to the low numbers of livestock and poultry in the enclave, it has become nearly without food and what is available has become “unimaginably” expensive, residents say. Alternatives are limited, while global hunger indicators continue to point to Gaza reaching famine levels.

According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) snapshot released on May 12, 470,000 people in Gaza are facing catastrophic hunger (IPC Phase 5), and the entire population is experiencing acute food insecurity. The report also projects an alarming 71,000 children and more than 17,000 mothers will need urgent treatment for acute malnutrition. At the beginning of 2025, agencies estimated 60,000 children would need treatment.

“Hunger is a special kind of pain in our hearts as mothers,” said Ahlam Al-Ajouari, a displaced woman in Khan Younis. “You feel like you are nothing when your child is hungry. And in a moment, we lose the feeling of being a mother.”

“Yesterday was perhaps the hardest of our hungry days,” Al-Ajouari said. “Bread ran out around noon and we only had a few crumbs left which we toasted and gave to the children with lentil soup. The children were not full and my youngest cried a lot. My daughter went to the neighbors to get bread but their situation was even worse. God blessed us with some luck and they gave us a plate of spaghetti. The kids ate it around sunset and got hungry again. By night, they were crying from hunger. I told them, drink water and sleep — inshallah. Hunger is cruel.”

Empty shelves

The shortage of food items affected all categories. According to Abdel Nasser Al-Ajrami, head of the Bakery Owners Association, 25 bakeries are operating across Gaza City and central and southern Gaza with funding from the World Food Program to produce bread for citizens. These bakeries had been producing 300 tons of flour daily since the ceasefire was announced in January, selling bread at 2 shekels per bundle.

But as of April 1, all of these bakeries had stopped working due to depletion of their stock. Al-Ajrami said no flour is currently available for trade in Gaza. What is being traded is flour stored individually by citizens and sold on the black market, with one sack now costing 1,500 shekels — up from 70 shekels.

Store shelves and market stalls are nearly empty.

Store shelves and market stalls are nearly empty; shopkeepers are left with only limited quantities of certain items, which have seen unprecedented price surges. While rice remains available, the cost has reached 50 shekels, compared to 8 or 9 shekels during the ceasefire. The price of pasta and lentils are similarly inflated.

Milk is no longer available. If found, a carton sells for 80 shekels, up from 8 shekels. Oils have also become scarce, especially olive oil, which now costs more than 100 shekels per bottle, up from 7 shekels during the ceasefire. The oil shortage led to the closure of cheap food outlets, such as falafel shops.

For many Gaza residents, dukkah or dugga (a mixture spices, grains, legumes, nuts and sometimes herbs) has become their main daily food. Its main ingredient, wheat, is now replaced with lentils, and mujaddara (a dish of rice and lentils) is increasingly common.

Barter systems

In light of this new reality, unconventional barter systems have emerged, with social media groups witnessing active trade offers: rice exchanged for sugar, or canned goods for any other food item. In some cases, sellers offer to sell goods at pre-collapse prices in exchange for the buyer providing cash, which is itself rare due to the total halt in cash flow into Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023.

Efforts by civil society organizations and community kitchens to alleviate the famine continue, but face immense challenges due to scarce resources, soaring prices and the growing extent of need.

On May 7, the World Central Kitchen announced a complete stop to its hot meal services for both the displaced and hospitals, local organizations and youth initiatives are now fighting the hunger battle alone.

A kilo of flour was once a symbol of simplicity, now it’s a dream.

Nasser Shaheen, one of the workers in these initiatives, said that the numbers gathered in front of food kitchens at shelter centers have increased significantly since the central kitchen stopped operating. He described scenes of long queues and violent scuffles among children, women and men to obtain a meal — now a daily occurrence. The situation is aggravated by the fact that many kitchens cannot provide each person with one meal per day; some are forced to reduce portions or shut down temporarily due to ingredient shortages.

Shaheen added that these scuffles threaten not only the safety of workers and volunteers but also pose a direct danger to the lives of the displaced; injuries, including burns and suffocation from overcrowding, are reported daily.

Inside one shelter in central Gaza, where dozens of families are crowded into classrooms turned into refuges, families share food.

“A kilo of flour was once a symbol of simplicity, now it’s a dream. Bread, the simplest staple of life, has become a luxury we can’t afford,” said Fatima Al-Wahidi. The eyes of mothers in the shelter are full of worry for their hungry children, she said: “We live to endure on empty stomachs, but for how long?”