Despite GHF’s 8,000 food boxes being distributed on Tuesday and 462,000 meals worth 462,000, Al Jazeera correspondent Hind al-Khourdary said the distribution has little to do to keep the family going for a long time.
Khoudary described a typical box containing 4kg (8.8lb) of flour, two bags of pasta, two cans of fava beans, a pack of tea bags and biscuits. Other foods contained small amounts of lentils and soup.
“We were dying of starvation. We have to feed the children we want to eat. What else can we do? I can do something to feed them,” the Palestinian father told Al Jazeera. “We saw people running. It followed them, even if it meant taking a risk. It was scary. But fear isn’t worse than starvation.”
Despite her best efforts, by the time Abusada, the mother of three, arrived in Rafa, it was too late.
Abu Sada described the experience as deeply humiliating. She was full of shame and inferiority.
“I’ve always covered my face with a scarf and I didn’t want anyone to recognize me that I’d get a food parcel,” she added.
Still, Abu Sada says he will do it again if necessary.
Limited water and electricity
With water scarcity in Gaza and little electricity, it is almost impossible to use the limited supplies that people can obtain.
Al Jazeera correspondent Tareq Abu Azzoum reports live from Deir El -Balah. “It is impossible to cook dried foods in Gaza without water — including lentils, rice and even pasta.”
“And if you have water, you also need electricity and fuel sources, both of which are completely blocked from Gaza,” he said.
What is GHF?
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) is a newly established US and Israel-approved organization that distributes food to Palestinians in Gaza. The organization is already delayed and difficult and undermined, with the group saying the UN is incapable of dealing with Gaza’s dire humanitarian situation following the three-month supplies blockade on Israel’s besieged strip.
Israel sought to present a solution by distributing aid through the US-supported GHF, increasing pressure to lift the Gaza blockade and allowing essential supplies. However, Jake Wood, a US military veteran who oversees the organization, has already stepped down, stating that he cannot fulfill the principles of “humanity, neutrality, fairness and independence.”
The GHF “restricts support to only parts of Gaza, while ensuring that it doesn’t meet other disastrous needs,” UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher told the Security Council last week. “It provides assistance on conditional political and military purposes. It makes starvation a tip for negotiations. It is an ironic sideshow. It is an intentional distraction. Fig leaves for further violence and movement.”
The United Nations and other humanitarian organisations have refused to cooperate with the GHF on the basis of compromising values and putting teams and assisted teams at risk. They say that GHF can be used by Israel to forcefully replace the population by requiring that it be moved near a few distribution hubs or otherwise face starvation. The United Nations also opposes the use of facial recognition to vet people receiving assistance.
How did Israel starve the people of Gaza?
One in five Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are facing starvation due to Israel’s nearly three months of strip lockdown. The chaos of distribution points highlights the incredible level of starvation in Gaza.
According to the latest Integrated Food Security Stage Classification (IPC) report, 1.95 million people (93% of the enclave’s population) face acute food shortages.
Certain governors are experiencing more severe levels of hunger. In other words, in North Gaza.
The IPC says that Israel’s continued lockdown will “have a high chance of causing further massive displacement within and across the governor” as items essential to the survival of the people will be exhausted.
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