Gaza's displaced families break fast with canned food as famine looms
Amidst the ruins of their home, the Abu Rizek family reflects on loss and food shortages during Ramadan in war-torn Gaza.
"This year there are no neighbours or loved ones. They're not here any more. It's only us and the children left, sitting here," a displaced Palestinian says. / Photo: AFP
As the evening prayer sounded across Gaza's rubble, the Abu Rizek family broke their day's fast with a shared meal in the wreckage of their home, sadly recalling all they had lost in Israel's offensive since last year's Muslim holy month.
While the family has managed to scrape together enough food for iftar, the sunset breakfast after a day without eating or drinking, many other people are far less fortunate in the stricken Palestinian enclave where famine looms.
Last Ramadan was great but this year it's not. A lot of things are not there any more. My sisters, my family. Our house was destroyed. There are still people under the rubble not pulled out.
She sat cross legged between tumbled walls of concrete cooking over a fire.
"We only eat soup and canned food. A can of beans. We're so tired of canned food and we get sick of it. My son keeps saying his stomach hurts," she said, recalling the plentiful meals of past Ramadans.
Most years, families gather with friends and neighbours to sit up at night, eating, praying and celebrating together.
"This year there are no neighbours or loved ones. They're not here any more. It's only us and the children left, sitting here. I don't know what will become of us," she said.
Not enough food
Israel's pounding ground and air offensive since October 7 has killed more than 30,000 people, according to the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza, and displaced most of the 2.3 million inhabitants.
Hopes for a Ramadan ceasefire fell apart with Israel and Hamas arguing over the terms.
With nearly all commercial food imports stopped, most Gaza residents are now entirely dependent on food aid. Many eat only at communal soup kitchens, including for their Ramadan iftar meal.
The United Nations estimates more than half a million of Gaza's 2.3 million people are on the brink of starvation. / Photo: AP
At one such kitchen in Rafah, people crowded round, holding up plastic bowls for a ladle of food.
"Every day we have 35 pots of food, but 35 pots is not enough. I swear even 70 pots is not enough," said volunteer Adnan Sheikh al Eid, hoping to be able to feed more of the desperate, displaced people standing in line.
Like Abu Rizek, Eid, could only remember the joy of previous Ramadans. "There used to be decorations, food and drinks. This year there is sadness and despair," he said.
"I am 60 years old and I have never had a Ramadan like this," he added.
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