{"id":293892,"date":"2024-03-01T14:00:28","date_gmt":"2024-03-01T19:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=293892"},"modified":"2024-03-01T14:00:28","modified_gmt":"2024-03-01T19:00:28","slug":"i-need-food-for-my-children-01march2024","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/i-need-food-for-my-children-01march2024\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I need food for my children \u2013 that\u2019s it\u2019: In Gaza, EU support is a lifeline for people facing famine – WFP – Stories from Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"
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01 March 2024<\/div>\n
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Thanks to support from donors like the European Union, the World Food Programme was able to provide over 1.4 million Gazans, inside Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ shelters and within host communities either food parcels, wheat flour or hot meals in the first three months of the war. Two women lay bare the impossible circumstances they and their families are enduring as WFP seeks to avert famine<\/div>\n
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\"A<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
Food parcel boxes from the EU are a lifeline for people on the brink in Gaza. Photo: WFP\/Ali Jadallah<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Schools in Gaza are packed with families who\u2019ve lost their homes and family members to the bombings that have displaced almost its entire population of 2.2 million people.<\/p>\n

The same is true of Gaza\u2019s remaining hospitals. In their grounds, tens of thousands of families are crowded into tents \u2013 while these could reasonably accommodate up to 3,000 people, in fact they are hosting 10,000 to 30,000 people.<\/p>\n

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A woman cooks for her family at camp for displaced people in southern Gaza. Since the start of the war, the EU has contributed nearly US$37m in assistance. Photo: WFP\/Ali Jadallah<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With next to no sanitation and washing facilities and the sound of explosions a feature of daily life, lessons for children have been replaced by a daily struggle to survive.<\/p>\n

Deaths, devastation, disease, fear and hunger are all part of the new reality they have been cast into overnight \u2013 Gazans were in the throes of a hunger crisis even before the war. Now they are\u00a0on the brink of famine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When the coast is clear \u2013 for\u00a0shifting battlefronts<\/a>\u00a0make access a daily problem for humanitarian agencies \u2013 the World Food Programme provides people food parcels, canned food, or wheat flour.<\/p>\n

That small amount of aid is the difference between life and death as WFP staff \u2013 themselves running on empty \u2013 work around the clock to avert famine.<\/p>\n

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A boy takes a fortified biscuit from WFP at a camp for displaced people in southern Gaza. Photo: WFP\/Ali Jadallah<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For children, boxes from Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ agencies that contain essentials and food such as nutritious biscuits are among few signs they have that the outside world has not completely forgotten and forsaken them.<\/p>\n

WFP urgently needs US$314 million to assist the majority of Gaza\u2019s residents through to May.<\/p>\n

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Meet Abla<\/h5>\n
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\"Abla<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
Abla like everyone in Gaza is forced to use dirty water to wash dishes. Photo: WFP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Abla is displaced mother from Gaza City living in a camp in Deir El Balah in southern Gaza\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

We were staying in a school, it got hit, so we moved again. We left with only the clothes on our back, this prayer-set, and nothing else. We walked from Gaza City to Deir El Balah (16km away), we just kept walking without looking back, afraid of the sounds of bombing behind us.<\/p>\n

There are 12 people living in this tent. God only knows how we are surviving. We came with nothing, no money, no clothes.<\/p>\n

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Abla and her family live in cramped conditions in a camp in southern Gaza. Photo: Arete<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We were in the school, and suddenly there were airstrikes. Many people were killed. We prayed and started walking, we walked from morning till sundown. We would take short breaks to get warm and for the children. We have a lot of children.<\/p>\n

I have children in Gaza City that I’ve not heard anything about. We all left. We were separated. It was the toughest day of my life.<\/p>\n

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\"Abla<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
Wheat flour is beyond unaffordable at US$100 and above for a bag. Photo: Arete<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We came to this school. We were told we had to evacuate again. There was bombing everywhere.<\/p>\n

What I need the most is wheat flour. I need food for my children. That\u2019s it. I don\u2019t care if we sleep on the floor but they need to be fed, so I have something to give my child when he cries for food. The children are crying out of hunger and cold. No blankets, no mattresses, nothing.<\/p>\n

We stand in line from the morning until the evening only to get a gallon of water.<\/p>\n

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Meet Um Ali<\/h5>\n
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\"Um<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
Um Ali bakes bread in a clay oven in southern Gaza. Photo: Arete<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Um Ali lost three sons when her home was destroyed in Deir El Balah. Now she lives in a school serving as Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ shelter with her two surviving sons and four daughters. They became displaced shortly after the war began in October.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

We are living a war, under siege. The displaced people in the school are not able to afford a loaf of bread. A bag of wheat flour is sold for 370 shekels (on the black market from US$100), people have no money.<\/p>\n

We haven\u2019t had wheat flour in two months.<\/p>\n

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Access to water is severely limited in Gaza. Photo: WFP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are more than 10,000 displaced people staying in this school. The amount of food coming in is only enough for 3,000 people. Where will people find money to buy anything? Hunger has eaten up the people living in this school.<\/p>\n

There are no blankets or mattresses, people sleep on the ground, the sky is their blanket, and the ground is their mattress.<\/p>\n

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\"Bread<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
People look on as Um Ali cooks. WFP is working 24\/7 to reach as many people as possible. Photo: Arete<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I see children wearing only shorts and t-shirts while it\u2019s pouring outside, I cry from the bottom of my heart.<\/p>\n

We do not want anything other than going back to our homes, I want to erect a tent in the place of my home which was destroyed, instead of living this humiliation, waiting in lines to get bread and water. I see young men falling down while walking because of lack of nutrition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

01 March 2024 Thanks to support from donors like the European Union, the World Food Programme was able to provide over 1.4 million Gazans, inside Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ shelters and within host communities either food parcels, wheat flour or hot meals in the first three months of the war. Two women lay bare the impossible circumstances they […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[6926],"document-source":[2505,2109],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[2517,1769,1945,1829,2033,2441,2057,6650,2005,2533,6869,5200,6870,2349,6871,1745,1841],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-293892","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-stories","document-source-european-union-eu","document-source-world-food-programme-wfp","document-subject-access-and-movement","document-subject-armed-conflict","document-subject-assistance","document-subject-casualties","document-subject-children","document-subject-education-and-culture","document-subject-food","document-subject-funding-needs","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-health","document-subject-hospitals","document-subject-humanitarian-relief","document-subject-hunger","document-subject-living-conditions","document-subject-malnutrition","document-subject-refugees-and-displaced-persons","document-subject-women","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/293892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/293892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":293895,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/293892\/revisions\/293895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=293892"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=293892"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=293892"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=293892"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=293892"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=293892"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=293892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}