Most days, the 2 million hungry Gazans struggle to find food. Amany Muteil, 52, scours the streets of northern Gaza City where people sell and exchange the food they have. this is. . .was scene together Saftawi Street 2 weeks ago.
Further north, in Beit Lahia, Aseel Mutair, 21, said he and his family of four had been separated. 1 pot of soup From Aid Kitchen twice last week. One day they only had tea.
Nizar Hamad, 30, is sheltering in a tent in Rafah with seven other adults and four children. They haven't received any aid after two weeks, so Nizar worked in the market for two days to earn enough money to buy these. rice bag From a street vendor.
The war in Gaza is now in its sixth month, with starvation and the risk of starvation becoming serious, according to the United Nations. Aid groups warn that deaths from malnutrition-related causes are only just beginning.
The war, which includes Israeli shelling and siege, has disrupted food imports and destroyed agriculture, leaving nearly Gaza's entire population reliant on meager humanitarian aid to feed itself. Countries such as the United States are exploring ways to deliver supplies by sea or air.
The problem is particularly worrying in the north, where aid is almost non-existent. UN agencies have largely halted aid operations in the region, citing Israeli restrictions on convoys, safety concerns and poor road conditions.
The New York Times asked three families to share photos and videos of their food hunts over the past few weeks. They all said it was becoming increasingly difficult to find food and that most days they weren't even sure if they would eat.
1 meal a day
Humanitarian convoys had not reached Ashir and Amani's home in the north, and they decided it was too dangerous to go looking for them. Instead, they mostly go out early in the morning to explore these informal street markets.
Most grocery stores in northern Gaza are damaged or closed, so traders have set up informal stalls to sell food and other goods.
Some vendors used to run grocery stores and are selling leftover inventory. Some people buy humanitarian supplies and resell them. Since early December, an average of just six commercial trucks a day carrying food and other supplies have been allowed into Gaza.
One of the cheapest foods Aseel's family can find is ground barley, which was used as animal feed before the war. Corn flour may be available, but it is expensive.
Ashir's mother used these ingredients to make palm-sized pita bread for each of them. “Words can't even describe how bad it tastes,” Achille said.
Even if Aseel's family finds food before the afternoon, they wait until dinner time to eat a single meal so they can sleep well.
On a recent day, her father found this small amount of rice on a street vendor's table, and the next day, after a five-hour search, he discovered this portion of flour. The discovery put the family in a festive mood, but soaring prices quickly drained their savings.
Achille's parents were unemployed before the war, but because her mother was a cancer patient, they received support from social welfare services.
One night, Aseel, his parents, and his brother Muhammad split a can of mushrooms to accompany their rice. Aseel said he tried to convince himself that it tasted like chicken.
They used flour to make traditional pita bread and ate it with a soup made from the leaves of a wild plant known as kubeiza.
When Aseel's family has nothing else to eat, they make soup from hubeiza leaves.
Last week they had no luck at the market. So on Monday, 16-year-old Muhammad stood in line for two hours at Tekeya, a charity kitchen at a nearby school. He brought home a bowl of rice soup for her family, but Aseel said he told her he didn't want her to be seen as begging.
Aseel ate five dates from his family's stash and drank from the last container of instant coffee. This reminded me of my life as a university student before the war.
The next day, Aseel's father and brother spent hours on their feet searching for supplies. They visit Aseel's aunt and reluctantly ask for food. She shared a small amount of lentils with me. They ate it that night and finished the date they had planned to save.
The next day they were too weak to check the market again and the relief kitchen had no food. Instead, they drank tea.
What Achille's family of four ate every day from February 28th to March 7th
| Wednesday | Hubeiza leaf soup pot |
| Thursday | Hubeiza leaf soup pot |
| Friday | 1 can of rice and mushrooms |
| Saturday | A pot of pita bread made with kubaiza leaf soup and white flour |
| Sunday | Hubeiza leaf soup pot |
| Monday | Tekeya rice soup and some dates |
| Tuesday | lentils and dates |
| Wednesday | tea |
| Thursday | Tekeya carrot soup |
“Human beings are energy, and my energy is depleted,” Aseel said. “I can't take it anymore.”
Like Aseel, Amani's family drinks tea to feel full. He used to get water from a nearby mosque, but since the mosque was bombed, he buys water almost every day from passing trucks.
Amani boils water for tea over a fire made from scrap wood.
Her family of seven adults, including her three sons and their wives, survive on water and soup made from cubes of chicken bouillon.
“When I can't think of anything and don't know what to do, I focus on my children, and it's especially difficult when my children say they don't have food at night,” Amani said.
feed a lot
Rafah, where Nizar has taken refuge, receives more aid than in the north. But he said the amount of food provided to each household – a bag of flour or a few cans of beans every few days – is not enough.
For the past two weeks, Nizar's family has received no assistance. There is only one bag of flour left.
The family used their savings to buy ingredients from street vendors, and Nizar's mother would divide each meal among 12 people.
But Nisar said his family's situation was deteriorating. The money she had saved for her wedding is gone and prices on the street market continue to rise.
On Saturday, Nizar photographed a street shop near the Rafah border crossing where humanitarian supplies were being resold. “Everything here is primarily aid,” Nizar said, adding that most people cannot afford the products on the shelves.
He explained that some people sell aid when they have more than they need. It is even more difficult for people who are not connected to aid organizations or shelters to receive aid, he added.
“This is disgusting and disgusting,” Nizar said.
The adults in his family save extra food for the children whenever they can. The children will also visit Tekeya, shown in this photo taken by Nizar in late February, where they will wait for containers of soup and grains.
Rafah's children carry pots to charity kitchens like this one to take home food to their families.
On Saturday, the whole family ate the day's meal at Tekeya as there was no other food available.
3 It is difficult for the entire family to share limited food among so many people. Amani, whose seven family members live in an apartment with her other 23 girlfriends, said living in the crowded environment was chaotic.
“People start criticizing each other, they start tracking everything, they try to hide things for fear of losing information,” she said. “Some people sneak out in the middle of the night and eat it all before anyone notices.”
temporary kitchen
In the morning, each person at Amany's home takes turns searching for firewood to burn in the street. Work keeps them busy but tiring.
They start a fire in a room with a blown-out wall and look outside at the ruined building.
Amani's family burns wood chips they find on the street.
“We're back in the days of wood and smoke,” said Amany, who worked as a school administrator before the war.
After being evacuated five times, Aseel returned to his home in Beit Lahia in January. Her family's apartment has no electricity, and the refrigerator and stove remain empty. But unlike many people in Gaza, her family still has access to water tanks supplied by municipal water sources.
Now they cook outdoors and use scrap wood to make tea and boil water for drinking and washing.
“This used to be our garden, filled with olive trees where the whole family would gather,” Achille said. “But now all that has been dispelled.”
