Hunger casts dark shadow over northern Gaza, with animal feed as sole alternative
Gaza (Quds News Network) – “I have ordered a complete blockade on Gaza; there will be no electricity and no food. We are fighting human-animals and acting accordingly,” declared Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on October 9, 2023 two days after the outbreak of the current war on Gaza.
108 days into the relentless Israeli war of genocide on the Gaza Strip, nearly 800,000 residents in the northern region teeter on the brink of a genuine famine. Those who survived the indiscriminate Israeli bombardment now face the threat of death not by bombs but by starvation, as affirmed by Ismail Thawabteh, the General Director of the Government Media Office in Gaza.
In statements to Al Jazeera, Thawabteh noted that over 400,000 Palestinians are living in a real famine in the northern province of the Gaza Strip. He urged Egyptian authorities to expedite the opening of the Rafah Crossing to allow for the entry of desperately needed humanitarian aid.
Breaking | Government Media Office in Gaza: "A genuine famine is taking place in northern Gaza following the depletion of flour, rice, and canned goods. We hold the Israeli occupation and its allies responsible for the death of 400,000 Palestinians due to starvation." pic.twitter.com/sJnFhPeat8
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 22, 2024
He emphasized that over 9,000 Palestinians have perished due to the lack of medical care, while more than 20 different diseases are spreading among the displaced population.
The signs of famine emerged when the canned goods, upon which Gazans relied for sustenance since the start of the aggression, disappeared from the markets. Following that, wheat flour vanished, prompting Palestinians to resort to grinding corn and barley earmarked for animal feed.
In the market of the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, exhaustion and weariness marked the face of Amal Shaaban. She searched for white wheat flour to feed her five children but couldn’t find it. Instead, she decided to buy whole wheat flour, stating, “This is made from extremely bad-quality wheat originally designated for animal feed.”
The famine in northern Gaza has reached devastating levels. Children are sorting animal feed grains to grind as a substitute for flour due to Israel's unbearable siege. pic.twitter.com/vaGbUc72DG
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 22, 2024
“I couldn’t find white flour, so I bought 3 kilograms of whole wheat flour, which is made from ‘very bad wheat’ originally intended for animal feed,” Amal explained.
She continued by highlighting the predicament faced by many in the northern Gaza Strip, saying, “We’ve been eating rice for a long time, and now the price of rice has tripled, and we can no longer afford it. Corn and barley flour are both expensive and taste bad.”
Amal struggles to provide the daily cost of 50 shekels (about $14) to buy 3 kilograms of flour, and it’s becoming increasingly challenging for her to gather this amount. She had used her remaining funds to purchase animal feed, and now she has no money left to buy food.
For a family of seven, Abdul Rahim Al-Jarbi searches for food in the Jabalia refugee camp market after depleting his stock of flour. The family survived on breadcrumbs and tea during the entire period of the aggression.
Al-Jarbi lamented, “We no longer understand anything. We roam day and night searching for enough flour for just one day, and we don’t find any. We don’t know what to eat. A pound (3 kilograms) of flour costs between 50 to 60 shekels (13 to 15 dollars), and we don’t know where we’ll get all this money to buy food for our children. I spent the last of what I had on buying animal feed, and now I have no money to buy anything.”
As trucks continue to enter southern Gaza sparingly, none have reached Gaza City and North Gaza province. Like humans, orange seller Khaled Abdel Nabi faces the same problem. He started collecting animal feed to eat and feed his family.
Abdel Nabi expressed his anger at the challenges he faces to feed his family, stating, “This is not a life. I get 20 shekels a day (about $7), and this amount is not enough to buy half a pound (1.5 kilograms) of flour. The situation is tough; we want [to live] a dignified life.”
People in northern Gaza are now forced to grind corn and fodder in lieu of wheat for bread after they began to face famine due to the continued Israeli military siege. pic.twitter.com/ndta2ysTWv
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 22, 2024
Mohammed Hamada, the owner of a grain mill in the Jabalia refugee camp, confirmed the complete absence of white flour from the markets, pointing out that only corn flour is available now.
He mentioned that they used to grind rice, but due to its rising prices, they stopped and began making flour from corn and barley grains intended for animal feed.
To confront the famine-like conditions in the Gaza Strip, the Government Media Office in Gaza stated that the two provinces need 1,300 food trucks daily to alleviate the hunger crisis, with 600 trucks needed for the North Gaza province and 700 for Gaza City.
While Israel claims it does not prevent aid trucks at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, Cairo denies responsibility for not allowing the aid to enter. Despite the congestion of aid at the crossing that has reached the Gaza Strip, it has not been admitted yet.
