Blood or bread: Surviving Israel's vicious hunger regime in Gaza

Middle East Eye

20 hours ago

Gaza's tragedy is not limited to the visible victims of massacres or the destruction of homes and cities.
Alongside these horrors, Palestinians endure an unbearable level of psychological and social exhaustion, the result of a systematic Zionist policy designed to turn life in Gaza into a living hell.
Even basic daily routines now demand extraordinary resilience. The simple act of survival has become a form of heroism.
For more than 100 consecutive days, the Zionist colonial regime has employed one of the most vile and despicable methods of warfare ever conceived: depriving children, women and men of the most essential requirement for survival - food.
Since 2 March 2025, the Israeli occupation army has closed Gaza's border crossings and entirely prohibited the entry of food, medicine or fuel.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
Even prior to that date, the limited number of trucks allowed in failed to meet basic needs. But Israel exploited the world's acclimatisation to this collective punishment regime and escalated it, enforcing a total ban on food supplies.
Empty shelves
Palestinians in Gaza survived on the last remnants of flour and stored goods. But as the days dragged on, most items ran out. The few remaining became astronomically expensive - their prices skyrocketing 20 to 30 times.
The majority of the population can no longer afford these extortionate prices. Parents are forced to ignore the cries of their hungry children and urge them to sleep on empty stomachs. Many can barely manage to secure a single, poor-quality meal per day, often a dish from a charitable soup kitchen.
I ask the seller to place the biscuit in a black wrapper. He says he has none. So I hide the biscuit in my pocket like a thief
But those kitchens, too, rely on border crossings to replenish their supplies. With them sealed, they resorted to existing stockpiles, which are also now running out. As a result, most have been forced to cease operations.
Markets are nearly bare, with only a few stalls displaying a limited selection of items.
Each morning, I walk more than 3km in search of anything edible. The era of relative comfort - when one could go out and buy a specific item from a nearby shop - is over.
Now, we walk long distances not to buy, but to find out if anything can be bought at all. "Anything" in my case means a loaf of bread, a packet of biscuits, a few falafel balls - nothing more. Sometimes, I circle the market two or three times before giving up and returning to my tent.
If I happen to spot something potentially purchasable, the second step is to brace myself before asking the price. Regardless of one's expectations, the answer is likely to be shocking. For example, a biscuit that once cost one shekel rose to three, then five, then 10, then 20.
A chocolate bar that once cost five shekels ($1.40) climbed to 15, then 30, then 50, then 100 - before vanishing altogether.
A sack of flour that once sold for $10 now costs $1,000.
Stolen meals
One of the most painful sights is the way children's eyes follow the goods on display.
These are children whose parents cannot provide even the bare minimum, let alone what has now become a luxury.
War on Gaza: How Israel is replicating Nazi starvation tactics Read More »
I cannot bear their gazes. I can do very little to help. That is why, when I buy something like a biscuit, I ask the seller to place it in a black wrapper. He says he has none. So I hide the biscuit in my pocket like a thief.
It is an uncomfortable feeling, but reality imposes a tremendous inner conflict. That biscuit might be my only meal of the day, and the number of children bearing the visible marks of deprivation far exceeds my ability to help.
But the disappearance of goods and astronomical prices are not the only problems. There is also a severe cash shortage.
For more than a year, banks in Gaza have been completely shut down. The occupying government has blocked the injection of liquidity that would enable people to carry out basic transactions. This is no accident - it is part of a broader effort to drive people to the brink.
This war on liquidity has strangled people's ability to buy and sell. Traders have become excessively strict, scrutinising banknotes and coins, often refusing to accept them on the grounds that they are worn, scratched or slightly torn.
This adds yet another layer to the psychological exhaustion. One might finally locate an item at a relatively "moderate" price - only 10 times the normal rate - only for the transaction to collapse because the seller refuses the buyer's money.
Follow Middle East Eye's live coverage of the Israel-Palestine war
Gone are the days when a seller would kindly say, "Take it now and pay later." Harsh conditions have replaced kindness with severity. If someone argues, "I didn't print this banknote - it came from the market and will return to it," the seller replies that another trader won't accept it either.
In those moments, a person may feel an overwhelming urge to argue or even shout: "Why are you creating new problems? Are the ones imposed by the occupation not enough?"
These are the daily battles faced in Gaza - not isolated frustrations, but constant, grinding confrontations.
Cash war
Recently, an even more alarming trend has emerged: traders now deduct a so-called "commission" in exchange for providing cash. Before the war, this fee had never exceeded 1 percent. Now, with banks closed and liquidity scarce, it has risen to five, then 15, 25, 40 - even 50 percent.
Another example of the madness is how traders now compete with the people for their own money, leaving them with scraps.
This war has exposed the greed of those merchants who exploit death to enrich themselves.
This war on liquidity has strangled people's ability to buy and sell - sometimes a listed price vanishes at the till because worn notes are rejected
But we must not lose sight of the real architect of this collapse: the Zionist extermination authorities, who have deliberately drained Gaza of cash in order to make life utterly unviable.
After a wave of international condemnation from western governments over Israel's starvation policy, the extermination authorities adopted a new trick.
They claimed they would allow some aid trucks into Gaza. After days of delay, a few lorries were permitted entry, barely meeting two percent of the population's needs.
Then, during their journey, Israel bombed the security personnel escorting them, killing them, while looters attacked the aid under Israeli air force cover.
This tactic - bombing escorts - has been repeated dozens of times. It is a clear signal that Israel is intentionally promoting social collapse and looting in Gaza.
Aid as target
Israel claims to be fighting Hamas's control over food supplies - a blatant lie that easily falls apart under scrutiny.
The entities responsible for distribution are globally trusted, including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) and the World Food Programme. Since the start of this genocidal war, these organisations have proven their ability to distribute aid swiftly and effectively.
But Israel's goal has shifted: it no longer seeks to merely "manage" the population - it wants to suffocate Palestinian society entirely, waging war on international humanitarian organisations in the process.
Thus, it has adopted a policy of "permission to enter, not to deliver". A few trucks are allowed in - just enough to maintain a public relations cover - while those same trucks are blocked from reaching the warehouses of UN agencies for organised distribution.
Israel has fully invested in generating chaos and societal collapse.
With the repeated targeting of security escorts guarding aid trucks and worsening starvation, Gaza's social fabric is unravelling at a terrifying pace.
The hungry now flood truck routes, attacking the lorries in a desperate bid to acquire flour or any other available food item.
In this hopeless scramble, new victims fall daily, crushed in the chaos or attacked by armed gangs. These gangs, reading Israel's signal, now raid trucks and hoard the contents to sell back at extortionate prices to the starving population.
Collapse by design
The current equation in Gaza is brutally simple:
To feed themselves or their children, people are left with only two options - either be wealthy enough to pay $1,000 for a sack of flour, or join an armed gang. And even then, success is not guaranteed - it may simply mean being shot by a rival group.
Israel is starving Gaza to death, and still the world does nothing
Mads Gilbert Read More »
Israel has used every vile method imaginable to wage war on Gaza and render it uninhabitable: killing people with missiles, medical denial, starvation and now societal collapse.
It is driving people to the edge, forcing them into a battle for food.
How are decent people - those who sit in tents with their hungry children - supposed to survive this nightmare? How are they to compete with gangs and criminals for a loaf of bread for their families?
Israel's message to the people of Gaza is clear: "If you want to survive starvation, you must become savages. You must abandon your humanity entirely. That's exactly what we expect of you."
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.