For nearly 60 days, Israel has blocked food from Gaza. Palestinians struggle to feed their families

For nearly 60 days, Israel has blocked food from Gaza. Palestinians struggle to feed their families
For nearly 60 days, no food, fuel, medicine or other item has entered the Gaza Strip, blocked by Israel. Markets are nearly bare. (AFP)
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Updated 27 April 2025
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For nearly 60 days, Israel has blocked food from Gaza. Palestinians struggle to feed their families

For nearly 60 days, Israel has blocked food from Gaza. Palestinians struggle to feed their families
  • For nearly 60 days, no food, fuel, medicine or other item has entered the Gaza Strip, blocked by Israel. Markets are nearly bare

KHAN YOUNIS: For nearly 60 days, no food, fuel, medicine or other item has entered the Gaza Strip, blocked by Israel. Aid groups are running out of food to distribute. Markets are nearly bare. Palestinian families are left struggling to feed their children.
In the sprawling tent camp outside the southern city of Khan Younis, Mariam Al-Najjar and her mother-in-law emptied four cans of peas and carrots into a pot and boiled it over a wood fire. They added a little bouillon and spices.
That, with a plate of rice, was the sole meal on Friday for the 11 members of their family, including six children.
Among Palestinians, “Fridays are sacred,” a day for large family meals of meat, stuffed vegetables or other rich traditional dishes, Al-Najjar said.
“Now we eat peas and rice,” she said. “We never ate canned peas before the war. Only in this war that has destroyed our lives.”
The around 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza are now mainly living off canned vegetables, rice, pasta and lentils. Meat, milk, cheese and fruit have disappeared. Bread and eggs are scarce. The few vegetables or other items in the market have skyrocketed in price, unaffordable for most.
“We can’t get anything that provides any protein or nutrients,” Al-Najjar said.
Beans, peas and bread dunked in tea
Israel imposed the blockade on March 2, then shattered a two-month ceasefire by resuming military operations March 18. It said both steps aim to pressure Hamas into releasing hostages. Rights groups call the blockade a “starvation tactic” endangering the entire population and a potential war crime.
Item by item, foods have disappeared, Al-Najjar said.
When meat became unavailable, she got canned sardines. Those are gone. They used to receive cartons of milk from the UN That ended weeks ago. Once a week, she used to buy tomatoes to give her children a salad. Now she can’t afford tomatoes.
Now, they are on a routine of cans of beans or peas and carrots, she said. When they can’t find that, they get lentils or pasta from a charity kitchen. If she finds bread or sugar, she gives her kids bread dunked in tea to stave off their hunger, she said.
“I’m afraid my son’s children will die of hunger,” said Mariam’s mother-in-law Sumaya Al-Najjar. The 61-year-old said she and her husband have cancer; she has stopped taking her medication because its unobtainable, and her husband is being treated in a hospital.
Mariam worries how she’ll feed her children when what’s left in Gaza runs out.
“Maybe we’ll eat sand,” she said.
Malnutrition hitting children at a key time in their development
Doctors warn that the lack of variety, protein and other nutrients in children’s diet will cause long-term damage to their health.
Dr. Ayman Abu Teir, head of the Therapeutic Feeding department at Khan Younis’ Nasser Hospital, said the number of malnutrition cases has “increased in a very substantial way.” Specialized milk for them has run out, he said. The UN said it identified 3,700 children suffering from acute malnutrition in March, up 80 percent from February.
“Children need the food pyramid for their development,” Abu Teir said: meat, eggs, fish and dairy for their growth, fruits and vegetables to build their immune systems. “These do not exist in Gaza,” he said.
He said a 1-year-old child weighing 10 kilos (22 pounds) needs about 700 calories a day.
The four cans of peas and carrots in the Al-Najjars’ Friday meal totaled about 1,000 calories, according to label information — not counting the rice they also ate – split among 11 people, including six children between the ages of 6 and 14.
Israel has previously said Gaza had enough aid after a surge in distribution during the ceasefire., and it accuses Hamas of diverting aid for its purposes. Humanitarian workers deny there is significant diversion, saying the UN strictly monitors distribution.
On a recent day in a Khan Younis street market, most stalls were empty. Those open displayed small piles of tomatoes, cucumbers, shriveled eggplants and onions. One had a few dented cans of beans and peas. At one of the few working grocery stores, the shelves were bare except for one with bags of pasta.
Tomatoes sell for 50 shekels a kilo, almost $14, compared to less than a dollar before the war.
“I dream of eating a tomato,” said Khalil Al-Faqawi, standing in front of the empty stalls.
He said he has nine people to feed. “The children ask for meat, for chicken, for a cookie. We can’t provide it,” he said. “Forget about meat. We’ve got lentils. Great. Thank you very much. What happens when the lentils run out?”
The only vegetables are those grown in Gaza. Israeli troops have destroyed the vast majority of the territory’s farmland and greenhouses or closed them off within military zones where anyone approaching risks being shot.
The remaining farms’ production has fallen for lack of water and supplies.
Mahmoud Al-Shaer said his greenhouses yield at most 150 kilos (330 pounds) of tomatoes a week compared to 600 kilos (1,300 pounds) before the war.
Even that can’t be sustained, he said. “In two weeks or a month, you won’t find any at all.”
Israel has leveled much of Gaza with its air and ground campaign. It has killed over 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, whose count does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Almost the entire population has been driven from their homes. Hundreds of thousands live in tent camps.
In Khan Younis, children mobbed the Rafah Charity Kitchen, holding out metal pots. Workers ladled boiled lentils into each one.
Such kitchens are the only alternative to the market. Other food programs shut down under the blockade.
The kitchens also face closure. The World Food Program said Friday it delivered its last food stocks to the 47 kitchens it supports — the biggest in Gaza — which it said will run out of meals to serve within days.
Kitchens can provide only lentils or plain pasta and rice. Hani Abu Qasim, at the Rafah Charity Kitchen, said they have reduced portion size as well.
“These people who depend on us are threatened with starvation if this kitchen closes,” Abu Qasim said.


Lufthansa group suspends Tel Aviv flights through May 25

Lufthansa group suspends Tel Aviv flights through May 25
Updated 12 sec ago
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Lufthansa group suspends Tel Aviv flights through May 25

Lufthansa group suspends Tel Aviv flights through May 25
BERLIN: Airline group Lufthansa will suspend its flights to Tel Aviv through May 25, it said on Thursday, citing the “current situation.”
This affects flights operated by Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Eurowings, ITA Airways, Brussels Airlines and Lufthansa Cargo, it added.
Global airlines have again halted their flights to and from Tel Aviv after a missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels toward Israel on May 4 landed near the country’s main international airport in Tel Aviv.

Madinah municipality continues intensive food safety inspections

Madinah municipality continues intensive food safety inspections
A picture taken on April 4, 2024 shows a view of one of the minarets of the Al-Masjid an-Nabawi (Prophet's Mosque) in Saudi Arab
Updated 17 min 9 sec ago
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Madinah municipality continues intensive food safety inspections

Madinah municipality continues intensive food safety inspections

MADINAH: Food safety inspections have been stepped up ahead of the arrival of Hajj pilgrims, reported the Saudi Press Agency on Thursday.

The Madinah Regional Municipality has carried out routine testing of commercial establishments, with 4,165 samples to date confirmed as conforming to approved standards. So far, 186 samples have been deemed unfit for human consumption.

The municipality emphasized the importance of adhering to health standards for the safety of consumers. Individuals are encouraged to report any food safety concerns via the hotline on 940 or through other official communication channels.


Jordan evacuates second group of cancer patients from Gaza

Jordan evacuates second group of cancer patients from Gaza
Updated 33 min 21 sec ago
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Jordan evacuates second group of cancer patients from Gaza

Jordan evacuates second group of cancer patients from Gaza

AMMAN: Jordan’s government on Wednesday began evacuating four child cancer patients and 12 family members from Gaza.

They are the second group of patients evacuated for treatment under the Jordan Medical Corridor initiative, started in March this year, that aims to treat 2,000 Gazan children.

The children and their families were evacuated by the Royal Jordanian Air Force in cooperation with the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health.

They will be treated at the King Hussein Cancer Center.

The first evacuees were 29 children and 44 family members. Seventeen of these children have since returned to Gaza with their families after completing their treatment.


Trump: Iran has ‘somewhat agreed’ to terms of a deal

Trump: Iran has ‘somewhat agreed’ to terms of a deal
Updated 41 min 37 sec ago
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Trump: Iran has ‘somewhat agreed’ to terms of a deal

Trump: Iran has ‘somewhat agreed’ to terms of a deal
  • Trump says the US is in serious negotiations with Iran to reach a long-term peace

DUBAI: President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Iran had “somewhat agreed” to the terms of a potential long-term agreement with the United States, signaling progress in ongoing negotiations aimed at defusing tensions over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.

“We are in very serious negotiations with Iran to reach a long-term peace,” Trump said, adding that the US was seeking to resolve the Iran issue “in a smart, but not violent, way.”

Donald Trump, in his first term as president, effectively torpedoed the accord in 2018 by unilaterally withdrawing the US.

Since returning to office in January, Trump has revived his campaign on Tehran, backing nuclear diplomacy but warning of military action if it fails.

He also reaffirmed Washington’s strategic role in the region, stating, “America is a strong ally of the Middle East.”

Speaking on broader foreign policy, Trump criticized US aid oversight in Ukraine: “We don’t know where the money we gave to Ukraine went,” he said. “The war in Ukraine must stop.”

Turning to defense, Trump claimed the US possesses “the most powerful military in the world—not Russia or China,” and “the most powerful weapons in the world.” 


54 people killed in overnight airstrikes on southern Gaza city, hospital says

54 people killed in overnight airstrikes on southern Gaza city, hospital says
Updated 15 May 2025
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54 people killed in overnight airstrikes on southern Gaza city, hospital says

54 people killed in overnight airstrikes on southern Gaza city, hospital says
  • Some bodies arrived in pieces, with some body bags containing the remains of multiple people
  • There had been hope that Trump’s regional visit could usher in a ceasefire or renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza

KHAN YOUNIS: A hospital in southern Gaza says 54 people have been killed in overnight airstrikes on the city of Khan Younis.
An Associated Press cameraman in Khan Younis counted 10 airstrikes on the city overnight into Thursday, and saw numerous bodies taken to the morgue in the city’s Nasser Hospital. Some bodies arrived in pieces, with some body bags containing the remains of multiple people. The hospital’s morgue confirmed 54 people had been killed.
It was the second night of heavy bombing, after airstrikes Wednesday on northern and southern Gaza killed at least 70 people, including almost two dozen children.
The strikes come as US President Donald Trump visits the Middle East, visiting Gulf states but not Israel. There had been widespread hope that Trump’s regional visit could usher in a ceasefire deal or renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza. An Israeli blockade of the territory is now in its third month.