Gaza Refugees: If It's Not For God And Charity, Children And I'm Hungry

Israeli airstrikes hit UNRWA schools in Gaza City causing a number of deaths on November 17, 2024. This place should be a safe evacuation site for civilians. (UNRWA)

JAKARTA - Nora Muhanna, a mother who fled Gaza City, inevitably accepted the harsh fact of returning to see her child starving.

He had to go home empty-handed after queuing for five to six hours for a bag of bread to eat his children.

"There is no food, and even if it is available, there is no money," Nora told AP, Monday, November 18 local time.

Another mother who also fled named Umm Shadi said that bread as a staple food is often not available everywhere because of the scarcity of flour.

Even if it is in the market, he has to spend his wallet deeply because the price of a bag of flour has jumped to 400 shekels or the equivalent of Rp. 1.6 million.

"Who can buy a bag of flour for 400 shells?" he asked.

Meanwhile, Refat Abed, admitted that he was desperate for the social and food crisis that was being faced by Gazans who continued to be forced to flee Israel.

"Where can I get the money?" he asked.

"Do I have to beg? If it weren't for God and charity, my children and I would be starving," continued Abed.

Both Nora, Shadi and Abed must survive in the midst of the brink of despair as refugees in Deir Al-Balah who are being hit by cold weather.

Outside of the refugees, the Zadna Roti Shop is like a stalled building without buying and selling food.

Refugees in Deir Al-Balalah can only hope that the queues for the soup and bread rations from the emergency charity kitchen will stop the sound of their prone stomach.

Almost all of Gaza's population of about 2.3 million people now relies on international assistance to survive.

Doctors and humanitarian organizations operating amid Israeli military attacks in the Gaza Strip have emphasized malnutrition is rampant.

Nutritionists and food say hunger may have occurred in northern Gaza which was completely invased.

In the midst of the food crisis, the Israeli military is accused of being the culprit for not being able to enter food, clean water, and medical humanitarian aid to Gaza. The Israeli army, complete with weapons and war equipment, is considered to be blocking international food supplies for Gazans, resulting in starvation.