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Three potatoes for $40: The face of hunger in Gaza

Food prices have skyrocketed in the Strip, especially in the north, where it is very difficult to get aid to people. Families have not eaten fruits or vegetables since October, and nine out of 10 children suffer from malnutrition. There is no blood or rubble in these images, but they still encapsulate the humanitarian disaster suffered by two million people

Text: Beatriz Lecumberri Photos: Mahmoud Issa (REUTERS)

Madrid - Sep 05, 2024 - 12:15Updated Sep 05, 2024 - 21:26CEST

These three potatoes, photographed on August 25 in a market in northern Gaza, cost 150 shekels, about $40. That's when you can find them, because bombings and massive displacements have forced people to abandon most fields and orchards, and humanitarian aid is still too scarce to care for the more than two million inhabitants of this Palestinian territory. Before the war, which began in October 2023, these potatoes cost about two shekels, about 54 cents. According to the latest figures from the Integrated Phase Classification (IPC), an independent and globally recognized tool that measures food security and nutrition and involves several UN organizations, 96% of Gaza's entire population faces high levels of acute food insecurity. The latest results indicate that some 495,000 people are suffering from catastrophic levels of food insecurity, and the risk of famine persists throughout Gaza. Mahmoud Issa (REUTERS)

Three peppers and two heads of garlic cost about 50 shekels, about $13.50, in the northern part of the Strip, where prices are especially high because very little humanitarian aid arrives there. “A kilo of cucumbers has reached as high as $100. No one can buy vegetables at that price. The lucky ones buy a cucumber, a tomato, an onion, if they are lucky and find them,” Samir Zaqut, of the Palestinian NGO Al Mezan, explains to this newspaper from the center of the Gaza Strip. Mahmoud Issa (REUTERS)

These canned goods cost about 120 shekels in northern Gaza at the moment, about $32. “The quality of canned food has improved somewhat. At first it only came from Egypt, now also from Jordan, which is somewhat better, but the children cannot spend almost a year eating canned food,” explains Samir Zaqut. These days, and for the first time since the beginning of the war, the World Food Programme (WFP) succeeded in getting its soup kitchens in northern Gaza to provide the population with hot meals containing fresh vegetables (potatoes and onions). However, attacks on humanitarian staff and missions increase the risk of limiting access and delivery of vital aid. WFP, for example, announced that while operations in Gaza continue, it has had to temporarily suspend staff movements following an attack on one of its convoys on August 28.Mahmoud Issa (REUTERS)

A jar of powdered milk powder for children and baby cereal costs about 100 shekels, about $27. According to recent Unicef figures, 90% of Gaza's children are malnourished and suffer “severe” threats to their “survival, growth and development.”Mahmoud Issa (REUTERS)

These bags of chickpeas, rice, lentils, frike and bulgur cost about 120 shekels ($32). These foods, widely used in Palestinian kitchens, enter the Strip inside humanitarian aid trucks and there are some people who resell them. Although still scarce compared to the needs of the Strip, vegetables, cereals and canned food are somewhat easier to find than fresh produce. In Gaza, there are families who have not eaten a tomato, an apple or an egg for 11 months. Malnutrition has reached unsuspected levels. Mahmoud Issa (REUTERS)

These three guavas cost about $11. “In Gaza there are no seeds, fertilizers or any kind of raw materials to restart the crops,” says Zaqut. Added to all this is the problem of water, which is scarce and what little there is cannot be used for irrigation. In May, Israel closed Rafah, the border terminal with Egypt through which most humanitarian aid entered Gaza. Now, another crossing, called Kerem Shalom, is being used. From August 1 to 25, 1,713 trucks of humanitarian aid entered Gaza. In April, they exceeded 5,000. “The Israeli offensive has many faces, but they all lead to death. Why don't they let the trucks reach the north?” asks Zaqut.Mahmoud Issa (REUTERS)

It takes 24 shekels, about $6.50, to buy two eggs in northern Gaza. The report of the IPC, the thermometer that measures hunger, estimated that to buy food, more than half of Gaza households sell their clothes and a third collect and sell garbage. More than 20% of the people interviewed by the agency's experts said they go whole days and nights without food. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Agency (FAO), between 60% and 70% of Gaza's livestock have been killed by the war and at least 65% of the arable land is unusable.Mahmoud Issa (REUTERS)

A bag of powdered milk and a kilogram of sugar cost 300 shekels, about $81. These are products that hardly anyone can afford at the moment in Gaza. Were Gazans hungry before this war? The Strip had been under an Israeli blockade since 2007, when the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas seized power. Before October, two-thirds of Gaza's population received food aid, in the form of food or subsidies. But acute child malnutrition was less than 1%. Between 53% and 59% of Gazans were living in poverty before this war, which has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry sources. On October 7, 2023, Hamas militiamen infiltrated into Israel and killed some 1,200 people and took 250 hostages, according to official figures. About 100 hostages are still in Gaza and it is not clear how many are alive. Mahmoud Issa (REUTERS)

Jam, date jelly and a bottle of grape molasses can cost about $77 at the moment in Gaza. These are luxury goods, very hard to find. And also, the question is who has that kind of cash in Gaza at the moment. For months now, the banks have not been working, there is no cash coming into the Strip and it is getting more and more complicated to send a transfer and especially for the person to whom it is addressed to be able to receive and cash it. “The bills are old, the paper is worn and torn and many people no longer accept some bills,” explains Zaqut, from Al Mezan. “This situation, this lack of everything, pushes people to the limit, especially the poorest,” he adds. Mahmoud Issa (REUTERS)

A bottle of olive oil and a bottle of cooking oil cost 125 shekels, about $32. In July and August, the WFP only managed to get half of the 24,000 tons of food aid needed to reach its targets into Gaza. As a result, it had to reduce the content of the food parcels it distributes. WFP insists on the urgent need to repair the roads, badly damaged by the war, in order to be able to deliver humanitarian assistance to all those in need. Most of them are impassable and the situation will worsen with the coming rains and floods. Mahmoud Issa (REUTERS)