‘Starvation is everywhere’: Severe malnutrition cases keep on rising in Gaza
We have passed the tipping point now; starvation is everywhere. It’s widespread, with cases in hospitals very high.
From bartering, to offering a service for just bread, or for anything else to survive, these are just little things in the face of the bigger problems that have spread everywhere across Gaza.
It’s more of a real struggle on a daily basis to survive… Even people with money now have serious problems going to the market, because the majority of their cash is frozen in bank accounts. So they are unable to get the necessities, and that has resulted in their children being starved and [admitted] to hospital.
So, it’s a multifaceted, dire situation that keeps accumulating and [resulting in] this mass-scale starvation.
At Gaza City food markets, prices skyrocket amid aid shortage
Following a collapse of the economy due to the war, Palestinians in Gaza City are having to withdraw money from their accounts through a middleman, but at a cost.
Saber Ahmed, a displaced Palestinian in Gaza City, explained that there is a “huge cut” of almost 40 percent from the amount they want to withdraw.
“Withdrawing 1,000 shekels (almost $300) you’ll receive 600 shekels, which is less than $200. When you go to the market, $200 is not enough to get two kilos of lentils and one kilo of flour. Every day I need about $300 to buy basic supplies. It’s a big problem,” Ahmed told Al Jazeera.
With a blockade on aid deliveries, the goods that can be acquired in the enclave have skyrocketed in price. The situation has not changed much since Israel announced the so-called “humanitarian pauses” last week, Palestinians say. The entry of aid trucks is still limited – far lower than required.
With only 100 shekels, Mariam Hassan explained that she cannot buy anything in the market.
“All street vendors refuse to take this bill because it’s taped and old. What am I supposed to do?” she said.
In Gaza, survival is based on ‘what you can live without’
People who have no cash in Gaza City have turned to bartering, exchanging beans for bread and sugar for vegetables.
Hilal Habeer, a barber shop owner, told Al Jazeera that the economy was based on “trade”.
“Like someone comes to the salon and asks if he could have a haircut in exchange for two loaves of bread. People don’t have money and up till now, public sector salaries have not been paid yet,” Habeer said.
As Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud explained, in Gaza, survival was “not just a question of aid, it’s about what you can trade, what you can sell and what you can live without”.
