A boy pushes a bicycle loaded with aid boxes provided by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) past a collapsed building in central Gaza City amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas.
Most Palestinians shopping for hungry families can only stare at the meagre offerings in Gaza City’s street markets, frustrated that soaring prices and shortages of food are pushing essential supplies beyond their reach. Prices of basic commodities have more than quadrupled since the conflict began, piling pressure on families already traumatised by Israel’s military campaign and a humanitarian crisis, with no ceasefire in sight, Gaza residents say. “We do not have vegetables, meat products, eggs or anything,” said Abu Issam, a Palestinian from northern Gaza. “Where are the governments? Where are the people? They are supposed to watch out for us, to have mercy on the people. Let me tell you something – yesterday I slept hungry.” The price of three potatoes is currently at 150 Shekels ($41.01). Before the war, one kg (2.2lb) of potatoes cost two Shekels ($0.55), residents said. A jar of honey used to cost 25 Shekels ($6.84), now it is sold for 85 Shekels ($23.24), they said. Residents said they are mostly relying on canned products that come through aid delivered to the territory, given the unavailability of other food products. “We are now wishing for a grape that we used to grow in our lands… Your son asks for money to buy some things… but now even 5 Shekels for your son are not enough to buy even one product,” said Gaza resident Abu Anwar Hassanein. A high risk of famine persists across Gaza as long as the war continues and humanitarian access is restricted, according to an assessment by a global hunger monitor published on June 25. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) added that more than 495,000 people in Gaza are facing the most severe, catastrophic level of food insecurity. Even before the conflict, two-thirds of the population lived in poverty and 45% of the workforce was unemployed. After the war, Gaza’s economy could take decades to recover. “We are unable to live, we are unable to buy anything. There’s nothing, we are not working,” said Palestinian labourer Mohamed al-Katnany. “You have the pregnant women, how are they supposed to grow their child while pregnant? How is she supposed to give birth? Diseases are everywhere,” said Hassanein. More than 40,500 Palestinians have been killed during Israel’s offensive on Gaza, according to local health authorities, and the enclave has been laid to waste. Most of its 2.3mn people have been displaced several times and face acute shortages of food and medicine, humanitarian agencies say.
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