Hungry Palestinians in North Gaza Search for Food, Sealed Off From Aid by Israeli Siege

Jerusalem: With virtually food allowed into rrnmost part of Gaza for past month, tens of thousands of Palestinians under Israeli siege are rationing ir last lentils and flour to survive. As bombardment pounds around m, some say y risk ir lives by venturing out in search of cans of food in rubble of destroyed homes.

Thousands have staggered out of area, hungry and thin, into Gaza City, where y find situation little better. One hospital reports seeing thousands of children suffering from malnutrition. A nutritionist said she treated a pregnant woman wasting away at just 40 kg (88 pounds).

“We are being starved to force us to leave our homes,” said Mohammed Arqouq, whose family of eight is determined to stay in rth, wearing Israel's siege. “We will die here in our homes.” Medical workers warn that hunger is spiraling to dire proportions under a monthlong siege on rth Gaza by Israeli military, which has been waging a fierce campaign since beginning of October, saying it's rooting out militants. Hamas, who are still holding hosts inside Gaza, have regrouped in area and have been carrying out hit-and-run attacks from tunnels and bombed-out buildings. military has severed area with checkpoints, ordering residents to leave. Many Palestinians fear Israel aims to depopulate rth long term.

On Friday, experts from a panel that monitors food security said famine is imminent in rth or may alrey be happening. growing desperation comes as deline approaches next week for a 30-day ultimatum Biden ministration gave Israel: raise level of humanitarian assistance allowed into Gaza or risk possible restrictions on US military funding.

US says Israel must allow a minimum of 350 trucks a day carrying food and or supplies. Israel has fallen far short. In October, 57 trucks a day entered Gaza on aver, according to figures from Israel's military ncy overseeing aid entry, kwn as COGAT. In first week of vember, aver was 81 a day.

UN puts number even lower — 37 trucks daily since beginning of October. It says Israeli military operations and general lawlessness often prevent it from collecting supplies, leaving hundreds of trucklos stranded at border.

US State Department spokesman Matw Miller said Israel h me some progress by anuncing opening of a new crossing into central Gaza and approving new delivery routes.

But he said Israel must do more. “It's t just sufficient to open new ros if more humanitarian assistance isn't going through those ros,” he said.

A desperate daily struggle Israeli forces have been hammering towns of Beit Lahiya, Beit Haun and Jabaliya refugee camp. Witnesses report intense fighting between troops and militants.

A trickle of food has reached Gaza City, but as of Thursday, thing entered towns farr rth for 30 days, even as an estimated 70,000 people remain re, said Louise Wateridge, spokesperson for UN ncy for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, speaking from Gaza City.

government ackwledged in late October that it hn't allowed aid into Jabaliya because of military “operational constraints" in response to a petition by Israeli human rights groups. On Saturday, COGAT said it allowed 11 trucks of food and supplies into Beit Haun and Jabaliya. But Alia Zaki, a spokeswoman for WFP, said Israeli troops at a checkpoint forced convoy to unlo food before it could reach shelters in Beit Haun. It was t clear what n happened to supplies.

Palestinians in rth described to Associated Press a desperate daily struggle to find food, water and safety, as strikes level buildings, sometimes killing whole families.

Arqouq said he goes out at night to search bombed-out buildings: “Sometimes you find a half-empty pack of flour, canned food and lentils.” His family relies on help from ors sheltering at a Jabaliya school, he said — but ir food, too, is running low.

“We are like dogs and cats searching for ir food in rubble,” said Um Saber, a widow.

She said she and her six children h to flee a school-turned-shelter in Beit Lahiya when Israel struck it. w y live in her far-in-law's home, stretching mer supplies of lentils and pasta with 40 ors, mostly women and children.

Ahmed Abu Awda, a 28-year-old far of three living with 25 relatives in a Jabaliya house, said y have a daily meal of lentils with bre, rationing to ensure children eat.

“Sometimes we don't eat at all,” he said.

Lubna, a 38-year-old mor of five, left food behind when fleeing as strikes and drone fire pummeled street in Jabaliya.

“We got out by a miracle,” she said from Beit Lahiya, where y're staying. She spoke on condition her family name t be used for fear of her safety.

Her husband scavenged flour from destroyed homes after Israeli forces withdrew around nearby Kamal wan hospital, she said. It's moldy, she said, so y sift it first. Her young daughter, Selina, is visibly gaunt and bony, Lubna said.

Surrender or starve offensive has raised fears among Palestinians that Israel seeks to empty rrn Gaza and hold it long term under a surrender-or-starve plan proposed by former generals. Israeli military has denied receiving such orders, but government hasn't denied plan outright. Witnesses report Israeli troops going building-to-building, forcing people to leave toward Gaza City.

On Thursday, Israeli military ordered new evacuations from several Gaza City neighbourhoods, raising possibility of a ground assault re. UN said some 14,000 displaced Palestinians were sheltering re.

Food and supplies are stretched for several hundred thousand people in Gaza City, too. Much of city has been flattened by months of Israeli bombardment and shelling.

Dr Rana Soboh, a nutrition specialist at Gaza City's Patient Friend Benevolent Hospital, said she sees some 350 cases of moderate to severe acute malnutrition daily, most from rth but also Gaza City.

“ bone of ir chest is showing, eyes are protruding,” she said, and many have trouble concentrating. “You repeat something a number of times, so y can understand what we are saying.” She cited a 32-year-old woman shedding weight in her third month of pregnancy — when y put her on scale, she weighed only 40 kg (88 pounds).

“We are suffering, facing ghost of famine that is hovering over Gaza," Soboh said.

A problem long in making Even before siege in rth, Patient Friend hospital saw a flood of children suffering from malnutrition — more than 4,780 in September compared with 1,100 in July, said Dr Ahm Eskiek, who oversees hospital operations.

Soboh said staff get calls from Beit Lahiya and Jabaliya pleing for help: “What can we do? We have thing.” She h worked at Kamal wan Hospital in rth but fled with her family to Gaza City. w y stay with 22 people in her uncle's two-bedroom apartment. Thursday, she h h a morsel of bre for breakfast and later a meal of yellow lentils.

As winter rains near, new arrivals set up tents wherever y can. Some 1,500 people are in a UN school alrey heavily damd in strikes that “could collapse at any moment,” UNRWA spokesperson Wateridge said.

With toilets destroyed, people try to set aside a corner of a classroom to use, leaving waste “streaming down walls of school,” she said.

Ors in Gaza City move into rubble of buildings, draping tarps between layers of collapsed concrete, she said.

“It's like carcass of a city,” she said.

This is an ncy copy and changes have been me by republicworld.com