Gazans resort to turtle meat in hunt for food
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Internally displaced Palestinians in a line to receive food from a charity kitchen, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on April 11.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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KHAN YUNIS - With food scarce in the besieged and war-battered Gaza Strip
Once the shell has been removed, the meat is cut up, boiled and cooked in a mix of onion, pepper, tomato and spices.
“The children were afraid of the turtle, and we told them it tasted as delicious as veal,” said Ms Majida Qanan, keeping an eye on chunks of red meat simmering in a pot over a wood fire.
“Some of them ate it, but others refused.”
For lack of a better alternative, this is the third time Ms Qanan, 61, has prepared a turtle-based meal for her family, who were displaced and now live in a tent in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza’s largest city.
After 18 months of devastating war and an Israeli blockade on aid since March 2, the United Nations has warned of a dire humanitarian situation
Israel has accused Hamas of diverting aid, which the Palestinian militant group denies.
The heads of 12 major aid organisations warned on April 17 that “famine is not just a risk, but likely rapidly unfolding in almost all parts” of the territory.
“There are no open crossings and there is nothing in the market,” said Ms Qanan.
“When I buy two small bags (of vegetables) for 80 shekels (S$29), there is no meat,” she added.
Sea turtles are internationally protected as an endangered species, but those caught in Gaza fishermen’s nets are used for food.
Ms Qanan mixes the meat with flour and vinegar to wash it, before rinsing and boiling it in an old metal pot.
‘Never expected to eat a turtle’
“We never expected to eat a turtle,” fisherman Abdel Halim Qanan said.
“When the war started, there was a food shortage. There is no food. So (turtle meat) is an alternative for other sources of protein. There is no meat, poultry or vegetables.”
The United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has warned that Gaza is facing its most severe humanitarian crisis since the war began on Oct 7, 2023, triggered by Hamas’ attack on Israel.
Fighting has raged in Gaza since then, pausing only twice – recently during a two-month ceasefire between January 19 and March 17, and in a previous one-week halt in late November 2023.
The World Health Organisation’s regional chief Hanan Balkhy said in June 2024 that some Gazans were so desperate that they were eating animal food, grass, and drinking sewage water.
Hamas on April 17 accused Israel of using “starvation as a weapon” against Gazans by blocking aid supplies.
Mr Qanan, the fisherman, said the turtles were killed in the “halal” method, in accordance with Islamic rites.
“If there was no famine, we would not eat it and leave it, but we want to compensate for the lack of protein,” he said. AFP
