‘You either come back carrying food, or in a shroud': Gazans make life-risking journeys to seek food

Straits Times

6 hours ago

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed trying to reach Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid sites since late May. PHOTO: REUTERS
'You either come back carrying food, or in a shroud': Gazans make life-risking journeys to seek food
GAZA/CAIRO - Like thousands of other Palestinians in Gaza, Hind Al-Nawajha takes a dangerous, miles-long journey every day to try to get some food for her family, hoping she makes it back alive.
Accompanied by her sister, Mazouza, the mother-of-four has to duck down and hide behind a pile of rubble on the side of the road as gunshots echo nearby.
'You either come back carrying (food) for your children and they will be happy, or you come back in a shroud, or you go back upset (without food) and your children will cry,' said Ms Al-Nawajha, 38, a resident of Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza.
'This is life, we are being slaughtered, we can't do it anymore.'
On June 17 and 18, dozens of Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire as they tried to get food from aid trucks brought into the enclave by the United Nations and international relief agencies, Gaza medics said.
On June 19, medics said at least 51 people were killed by Israeli gunfire and military strikes, including 12 people who tried to approach a site operated by the United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in the central Gaza Strip, the latest in near-daily reports of killings of people seeking food.
The Israeli military said there were several attempts by 'suspects' to approach forces in the area of Netzarim in the central Gaza Strip, in a manner that endangered them.
It said forces fired warning shots to prevent suspects from approaching them, and it was currently unaware of injuries in the incident.
In an e-mail, GHF criticised Gazan health officials, accusing them of regularly releasing inaccurate information.
GHF said that Palestinians do not access the nearby GHF site via the Netzarim corridor. It did not address questions about whether GHF was aware that such an incident had occurred.
Thirty-nine people were killed, meanwhile, in separate Israeli airstrikes in the northern Gaza Strip on June 19, medics said.
One of those strikes killed at least 19 people, including women and children, in a tent in Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, they added.
Another strike killed at least 14 people and damaged several houses in Jabalia, in the north of the enclave, medics said.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army on those attacks.
In recent days, the Israeli military said its forces had opened fire and fired warning shots to disperse people who approached areas where troops were operating, posing a threat. It said it was reviewing reports of casualties among civilians.
Sleeping by the road
Israel has been channelling much of the aid it is now allowing into Gaza through GHF, a new US- and Israeli-backed group, which operates a handful of distribution sites in areas guarded by Israeli forces.
The Gaza health ministry said hundreds of Palestinians have been killed trying to reach GHF sites since late May.
The United Nations rejects the GHF delivery system as inadequate, dangerous and a violation of humanitarian impartiality rules. Israel says it is needed to prevent Hamas fighters from diverting aid, which Hamas denies.
On June 18, the GHF said in a statement it had distributed 3 million meals across three of its aid sites without an incident.
The Gaza war was triggered when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel's subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 55,600 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, while displacing almost the entire population of more than 2 million and causing a hunger crisis.
The Norwegian Refugee Council warned on June 19 that more than 1 million people were without adequate shelter, saying equipment such as tents and tarpaulins had been blocked by Israel from entering since March 1.
Ms Al-Nawajha returned empty-handed on June 18 from her journey to find food, flopping down exhausted on the dusty ground outside the tent in Gaza City, where she has been displaced and sheltering with her family.
She and her sister have been camping by the road for the past 20 days.
They say they try to force their way into the distribution site where trucks carrying aid arrive, but are often outmuscled by men, who sometimes fight over sacks of flour coming off UN trucks.
'(When) there is no food, as you can see, children start crying and getting angry,' she said.
'When we are for three, four kilometres or more on our legs... Oh my... our feet are bruised and our shoes are torn off.' REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.