XPost: can.politics, alt.society.liberalism, alt.fun
XPost: alt.politics.democrats.d, aus.politics
Ahmad Abdulrahim, 38, strolled the remains of the markets in Gaza City
with 150 Shekels in his pocket, the amount of money he used to feed
his family of five for a week before the genocide. Today, that amount
can hardly buy a single meal.
The markets, now little more than bombed-out remains, are empty of all
basic needs, including vegetables, meat, and fruits. For the majority
of people, such luxuries are unavailable except at unimaginable
prices. Most vegetables, rare though they are, come from people’s
gardens.
All Ahmad could find were cleaning supplies and canned foods. Ahmad
told Mondoweiss that due to his children’s long-term dependence on
these foods, they’ve started to develop health problems. After a
protracted search, Ahmad found some zucchini; he walked faster when he
noticed the seller, who had placed them in a small pile on the ground
on top of a plastic bag. When he asked about the price, he was
surprised to know that one kilogram of zucchini cost 80 Shekels ($20).
Before the war, it used to be 3 shekels per kilo (less than a dollar).
Such was the price for most other vegetables that could be found. One
kilo of green peppers cost 250 shekels ($66), where it used to be 5
($1.4). One kilo of cucumber and tomato cost 90-100 shekels ($23-$26),
which used to be 2-3 shekels (53-80 cents).
Ahmad said that as he walked back home, disappointed, he was dreading
his family’s reaction when they found out that he spent almost half of
their money on two cans of beans.
“I’m starting to deal with my kids as adults,” he said. “I’m telling
them this is war, and our enemy wants us to starve. I’m telling them
that we should be thankful that we have been able to survive so far. I
promise them that when this war ends, I will bring them whatever they
want.”
The state of starvation in Gaza has not ended. In northern Gaza, it
has dramatically increased, but in ways that are different from how it
was at the war’s outset. Protracted periods of malnutrition and
deprivation from vital nutrients are having a cumulative impact on
Gaza’s population, especially for those who most need it, such as
children and pregnant women.
“Before this crisis, there was enough food in Gaza to feed the
population,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said
back in March. “Malnutrition was a rare occurrence. Now, people are
dying, and many more are sick. Over a million people are expected to
face catastrophic hunger unless significantly more food is allowed to
enter Gaza.”
Only 0.8% of children under the age of five were suffering from acute malnutrition before the war, the WHO also said. By February, that
figure had jumped to 12.4% – 16.5%.
Ever since those numbers were reported, Israel’s genocidal war has
only worsened the systematic deprivation of food to the population.
But Israeli propaganda would have us believe that there is no famine,
and there is no Israeli policy of deliberate starvation. Many Israeli
media outlets misleadingly focus on technical definitions of what
constitutes a famine and dishonestly misquote passages from the UN’s
ICP reports on conditions in Gaza.
The reality on the ground tells an opposite story, one in which the
systematic deprivation of Gaza’s population from sources of nutrition
is leading to long-term consequences. Gaza health officials and
medical workers have already observed it for weeks.
Hussam Abu Safia, Director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, told Aljazeera
that the specter of famine was once again sweeping northern Gaza,
stressing that the lack of availability of foods with diverse
nutritional values will have a long-term impact on the population.
Since the start of the Israeli army’s second invasion of the
Shuja’iyya neighborhood in Gaza City last week, access of residents in
northern Gaza to food has only worsened.
Abu Safia said that no basic materials have entered the northern Gaza
Strip for weeks, leaving flour as the only available staple. This is
far from sufficient to meet the nutritional needs of children, the
elderly, and pregnant women, all of whom require fats and proteins,
Abu Safia asserted.
“Within 14 days, 214 children have arrived at the hospital showing
signs of malnutrition,” Abu Safiya told Al Jazeera well before the
second invasion of Shuja’iyya began. “Including over 50 cases of
advanced malnutrition and 6 cases in critical condition in the
intensive care unit.”
“These children are living solely on fluid replacements, and we do not
have any milk or special food for them, which puts their lives at
risk,” he said.
Eating tree leaves
People in the north of Gaza can tell that this wave of hunger is the
worst to visit the strip so far, leaving many wondering about their
prospects for survival if these conditions do not change.
Some residents of Gaza City have resorted to using tree leaves, such
as mulberry leaves, to prepare dawali, a dish typically comprised of
fragrant rice wrapped in grape leaves.
“People are cooking weeds,” Mahmoud Issa, a local journalist and
resident of Gaza City, told Mondowiess shortly before the Shuja’iyya
invasion. “They cook leaves in water and spices. Even using the water
is risky, because there’s no power to run the desalination plants.”
“Solar power is no longer available in Gaza either. Israeli drones
have systematically targeted every solar panel on every roof across
Gaza. They want people to lose hope and starve,” he continued.
Issa explained that people believe expired canned foods, when made
available in Gaza, are making their children sick. This has led some
to try to avoid such foods for fear that they would not be able to get treatment for their kids should they fall ill, given that northern
Gaza no longer has any health system to speak of.
“Families know there is no way to treat their children if they get
poisoned, so they are abandoning canned foods,” he said.
But even though cases of food poisoning due to the consumption of
expired food products have been reported in Gaza, reports are also
emerging of additional cases of food poisoning from forage eating.
Fruits, vegetables, chicken, meat, and fish are all unavailable in
Gaza, Mahmoud explained.
“Three months ago, the Israeli checkpoint in the Kuwaiti Square was
closed, and the checkpoint in al-Rasheed Street was closed, too,” he
said. “The Israeli army allows the entrance of food trucks from the
Erez crossing, but that is not enough for the population in northern
Gaza.”
“When the Rafah crossing was working, over 60 trucks used to arrive,
including frozen vegetables, meat, chicken, and other necessary food,”
he explained. “We could survive then. It was tolerable. But now every
crossing is closed, and people have started to starve.”
https://mondoweiss.net/2024/07/israels-starvation-policy-in-gaza-is-forcing-people-to-eat-tree-leaves/
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