Gaza: “Surviving on Less Than a Meal a Day” as Suffering Deepens Under Israel’s Blockade

Gaza (Quds News Network)- Since March 2, Israel has closed Gaza’s main crossings, halting the flow of food, medical aid, fuel, and other critical humanitarian supplies.

This blockade has resulted in a severe and unprecedented decline in living conditions. Human rights organizations have accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war against the Palestinians.

After imposing the blockade, Israel resumed its genocide in Gaza on March 18, violating a two-month ceasefire and escalating the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the territory.

Gazans have been heavily reliant on food parcels and essential supplies provided by charities and humanitarian organizations.

However, since Israel’s closure of the crossings, aid groups report that trucks carrying food, medical supplies, and other critical goods remain stalled at the border, awaiting permission to enter. The closure has significantly reduced the availability of vital services and supplies, limiting the reach of humanitarian assistance and decreasing the number of people able to benefit from charitable and relief efforts.

With restaurants and bakeries closed for lack of food or fuel, community kitchens are often the only way for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza to eat a daily meal.

“It’s Never Easy to Witness People Suffering and Starving”

Muslim in Need (MiN), a UK-based charitable organization providing vital aid in Gaza, told Quds News Network that a growing number of people are turning to its Gaza office in urgent need of essential supplies and support.

“It’s never easy to witness people suffering and starving. They lack everything,” said Sufyan M, Gaza programme coordinator at MiN, speaking about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the enclave

“Children need diapers, baby formula, milk—everything. People are in desperate need of food, vegetables, water and even basic hygiene supplies, which are unavailable,” he said.

“This adds immense pressure and psychological strain on parents. How can they possibly secure their children’s basic needs?”

He noted that MiN is running low on staples due to the crippling blockade.

“This may be the last week we can distribute rice at our community kitchen,” he added, explaining that Palestinians, who were already struggling to access protein, are now facing even greater deprivation.

He said that hundreds of thousands of people have been flooding into their community kitchen in Gaza, desperately seeking even a small amount of rice, beans, or pasta. “The kitchen that feeds thousands could be shut down within days,” he warned, adding distributing water has also been difficult due to the lack of fuel.

Sufyan highlighted that aid trucks belonging to MiN have been lined up at the border, along with thousands of others, prevented from entering the enclave to deliver much-needed assistance.

“Supplies are literally miles away from people who are starving and surviving on less than a meal a day.”

“One mother told us that she sacrifices her own meals so that there’s enough food for her children, ensuring they don’t go hungry,” Sufyan said.

A little girl told the MiN team in Gaza: “If the community kitchen shuts down, we will have nothing to eat.”

Silent Death

In addition to the relentless toll of deaths from ongoing Israeli bombardment, a silent death is claiming the lives of Gaza’s elderly, children, and patients—brought on by starvation, extreme suffering, lack of medical care, and the imposition of a total blockade that has now entered its third consecutive month.

At least 57 people have died from malnutrition in Gaza since the start of the Israeli genocide in October 2023, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office.

In the past week alone, 14 elderly Palestinians have been documented to have died across Gaza from complications related to hunger, malnutrition, and the lack of medical care, as reported by the Euro-Med Monitor this week.

The Media Office in Gaza confirmed that the number of deaths from malnutrition is expected to increase as the crossings into Gaza remain closed and the entry of aid, baby formula and nutritional supplements have been prevented by Israel.

The United Nations has repeatedly warned of humanitarian catastrophe, with the enclave on the brink of “full-scale famine conditions.”

Last week, Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for the Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), said the Israeli siege is collectively punishing children, women, older people and men in Gaza.

In a new assessment published on Monday, the Integrated Food Security Phase (IPC) Classification said Gaza’s entire population continues to face a critical risk of famine, with half a million people facing starvation.

Children in the enclave have not only faced relentless bombardment, but are also being deprived of essential goods, services and lifesaving care, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement.

“With each passing day of the aid blockade, they face the growing risk of starvation, illness and death – nothing can justify this,” Russell said. “The sea they used for fishing has been restricted. Bakeries are closing, water production is declining, and market shelves are almost bare.”

In the past month, she said, families have been forced to choose between showering, cleaning, and cooking as access to water is quickly deteriorating. Vaccines are also running out, Russell warned, and diseases are spreading rapidly.

“Malnutrition is also on the rise,” she said, adding that more than 9,000 children have been admitted for treatment of acute malnutrition since the start of the year.

Lately, Dr. Munir al-Bursh, the General Director of the Health Ministry, announced that Gaza has entered the fifth phase of famine. This phase poses the greatest danger to the lives of residents and means witnessing cases of mass deaths.

“We have seen a doubling in child mortality under the age of five, rising from 13 deaths per 1,000 children to 32 per 1,00”, al-Bursh said. “We call on the UN Security Council to declare a state of famine in Gaza and to open humanitarian corridors to deliver food and medicine.”