‘Far too late’: Palestinians despair after UN declares famine in Gaza
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Palestinian women and girls pleading for cooked rice from a charity kitchen in Gaza City on Aug 23.
PHOTO: AFP
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- Gazans face severe hunger; a charity kitchen shows desperate people seeking rice, highlighting widespread displacement and food shortages.
- The UN declared famine in Gaza, blaming aid obstruction by Israel; 500,000 people are affected, with projections indicating further expansion.
- Israel continues bombardment amid the crisis. A civil defence spokesman described conditions as "absolutely catastrophic" in some areas.
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GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories – Desperate Palestinians clutching pots and plastic buckets scrambled for rice at a charity kitchen in Gaza City on Aug 23, a day after the United Nations declared a famine in the war-battered territory.
AFP footage from Gaza’s largest city, which Israel plans to seize
One young boy used his hands to scrape a few leftover grains from the inside of a cooking vat. A young girl sat on the edge of a tent and scooped rice from a plastic bag on the ground.
“We have no home left, no food, no income... so we are forced to turn to charity kitchens, but they do not satisfy our hunger,” said Mr Yousef Hamad, 58, who was displaced from the northern city of Beit Hanoun.
Farther south at a charity kitchen in Deir al-Balah, 34-year-old Ms Umm Mohammad said the UN’s declaration of a famine
The children are “staggering from dizziness, unable to wake up because of the lack of food and water”, she said.
The UN officially declared a famine in Gaza on Aug 22, blaming the “systematic obstruction” of aid by Israel during more than 22 months of war.
The Rome-based Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative (IPC) said famine was affecting 500,000 people in Gaza governorate, which covers about a fifth of the Palestinian territory, including Gaza City.
‘Moral duty’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the report as “an outright lie”.
On Aug 23, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said it was “time for the government of Israel to stop denying the famine it has created in Gaza”.
“All of those who have influence must use it with determination and a sense of moral duty,” UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini posted on X.
The IPC projected that the famine would expand to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis governorates by the end of September, covering around two-thirds of Gaza.
Palestinian boys scraping the bottom of large pots to get remaining grains of cooked rice, at a charity kitchen in Gaza City on Aug 23.
PHOTO: AFP
Israel, meanwhile, kept up its bombardment of the Palestinian territory, with AFP footage showing heavy smoke billowing above the Zeitun district of Gaza City as Palestinians picked through the wreckage of buildings.
‘Feel like end is near’
The spokesman for Gaza’s civil defence agency, Mr Mahmud Bassal, called the situation in the Sabra and Zeitun neighbourhoods “absolutely catastrophic”, describing the “complete levelling of entire residential blocks”.
“We are trapped here, living in fear, with nowhere to go. There’s no safety anywhere in Gaza. Movement now leads to death,” said Mr Ahmad Jundiyeh, 35, who was displaced to the northern outskirts of Zeitun.
“We constantly hear the sound of bombing... we hear fighter jets, artillery shelling and even drone explosions,” he told AFP by telephone.
“We’re extremely afraid – it feels like the end is near.”
The aftermath of an Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, on Aug 23.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Defence Minister Israel Katz vowed on Aug 22 that Israel would destroy Gaza City as it has other parts of the territory if Hamas did not agree to disarm, release all remaining hostages in the territory and end the war on Israel’s terms.
Residents of Gaza City said the Israeli strikes targeting the area had been relentless for days.
“Let them come and see what’s happening to us here on the ground in Zeitun district. We have been ruined,” said Mr Aymen Daloul, a 53-year-old from Gaza City whose home had been destroyed.
“We shall sleep on the streets as if we were cattle. Have mercy on us.”
Mr Mahmud Abu Saqer, 24, said there had been a quickening exodus of residents ever since Israel announced its plans to seize Gaza City.
“Just this morning, more than 500 to 600 families left, and yesterday thousands left,” he said. “The sounds of explosions since morning are forcing everyone to leave.”
Hamas’ October 2023 attack
Israel’s offensive has killed at least 62,622 Palestinians,
The civil defence spokesman, Mr Bassal, said Israeli strikes and gunfire across Gaza on Aug 23 killed at least 51 people.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing swathes of the Palestinian territory mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military. AFP
