{"id":18692,"date":"2024-04-05T01:25:39","date_gmt":"2024-04-05T01:25:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/05\/famine-is-worse-than-war-the-fight-for-survival-in-gaza\/"},"modified":"2024-04-05T01:25:39","modified_gmt":"2024-04-05T01:25:39","slug":"famine-is-worse-than-war-the-fight-for-survival-in-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/05\/famine-is-worse-than-war-the-fight-for-survival-in-gaza\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Famine is worse than war’: The fight for survival in Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"‘Famine<\/div>


\n<\/p>\n

\n

In a narrow side street next to the market in Rafah, a group of children form a disorganised queue as a charity worker distributes some watery soup.<\/p>\n

As the queue quickly multiplies, the children push, shove and fight with each other for a few spoonfuls of the liquid.<\/p>\n

But there is not enough to go around.<\/p>\n

“It’s a drop in the ocean,” says Ramzi, a local volunteer who relies on aid agencies for the donations he cooks on a makeshift, wood-fired stove.<\/p>\n

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\n
<\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n Ramzi, a local volunteer
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

After the death of seven aid workers in Israeli airstrikes<\/a><\/strong> on Monday evening, World Central Kitchen has suspended their operations. A number of other agencies have followed in their footsteps.<\/p>\n

As a consequence, the humanitarian situation in Gaza<\/a><\/strong> is expected to deteriorate even further.<\/p>\n

World Central Kitchen says it has supplied about 35 million hot meals and established more than 60 community kitchens since October.<\/p>\n

Ramzi, for one, says he cannot cope with the number of people – young and old – seeking what sustenance he is able to offer.<\/p>\n

“At the beginning, there were 100 to 200 kids,” he said. “Today it is 300. Tomorrow [it will be] 350. The day after 400.<\/p>\n

“There is a horrifying increase in the number of kids. Not only kids, but you also find their teachers, doctors, the engineers…<\/p>\n

“The volume of people during food distribution hour is unimaginable.”<\/p>\n

The weary-looking charity worker is not the only one now worrying about mass starvation.<\/p>\n

Read more:
UK breaching international law by arming Israel, Sunak warned<\/a>
Gaza’s morgue network has effectively collapsed<\/a>
Families of UK aid workers killed by Israel ‘heartbroken’<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n \"A\n <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

‘Imminent famine’<\/strong><\/p>\n

A report from a cluster of international organisations known as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has outlined a devastating situation – with one half of the population in Gaza looking set to face catastrophic levels of hunger<\/a><\/strong> and starvation between now and July.<\/p>\n

The situation is particularly worrying in northern Gaza, where the IPC has said famine is imminent. Israel has separated the north from the south using a military corridor with little more than a trickle of aid flowing northwards.<\/p>\n

Israel says that it is working to facilitate more humanitarian assistance but argues that it is not responsible for distributing it on the ground.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n \"A\n <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

‘I am not getting any of the aid’<\/strong><\/p>\n

Father of eight Abdul Abdulal told Sky News that he has seen little evidence of any assistance.<\/p>\n

“I am not getting any of the aid,” he said. “I am not getting any. Whenever an aid lorry comes, I throw myself on it in order to get something for the children to eat.<\/p>\n

“What am I going to do with myself? Dignity has been trampled upon.<\/p>\n

“We’ve got to a stage where we can’t afford to buy food for our children.”<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n \"A\n <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

A catastrophe documented<\/strong><\/p>\n

The family fled Jabalia, in northern Gaza, in December when their home was destroyed in the fighting.<\/p>\n

It is a catastrophe that he documented on his phone.<\/p>\n

“Nothing is left in this room, everything melted down,” he said as he thumbed through the images. “See how they threw out all the furniture.”<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n \"A\n <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Some 27 members of Mr Abdulal’s family have been killed and some of his relatives are still buried under the rubble, he told us.<\/p>\n

His eldest son, who stayed in northern Gaza with his wife, has not been seen since the beginning of the war.<\/p>\n

“I want to know whether he is alive or dead,” Mr Abdulal says. “I think about him all the time.”<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n \"A\n <\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n A sprawling tent camp in the southern tip of Gaza
\n <\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

An obsession with finding enough food<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, if there is one preoccupation here, one single obsession in this sprawling camp: it is food.<\/p>\n

Mr Abdulal’s children looked tired and drained.<\/p>\n

When they are able to summon the energy, they look for tins of beans and peas when they are distributed by the aid agencies – or jostle for water when trucks make deliveries to the camp.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

It is a humiliating existence for a man who accepts that he is no longer able to feed his children.<\/p>\n

“At the end of the day you either live or you die, but famine, being poor, that’s worse than war. It’s a psychological war.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a narrow side street next to the market in Rafah, a group of children form a disorganised queue as a charity worker distributes some watery soup. As the queue quickly multiplies, the children push, shove and fight with each other for a few spoonfuls of the liquid. But there is not enough to go […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/04\/768x432\/skynews-gaza-famine_6510284.jpg?20240404162300","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[6233,4822,43,24162,3102,5436],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18692"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18692"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18694,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18692\/revisions\/18694"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}