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The Mainichi
03-08-2025
- General
- The Mainichi
How one Gaza family dedicates each day to finding enough food to survive
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Every morning, Abeer and Fadi Sobh wake up in their tent in the Gaza Strip to the same question: How will they find food for themselves and their six young children? The couple has three options: Maybe a charity kitchen will be open and they can get a pot of watery lentils. Or they can try jostling through crowds to get some flour from a passing aid truck. The last resort is begging. If those all fail, they simply don't eat. It happens more and more these days, as hunger saps their energy, strength and hope. The predicament of the Sobhs, who live in a seaside refugee camp west of Gaza City after being displaced multiple times, is the same for families throughout the war-ravaged territory. Hunger has grown throughout the past 22 months of war because of aid restrictions, humanitarian workers say. But food experts warned earlier this week the "worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in Gaza." Israel enforced a complete blockade on food and other supplies for 2 1/2 months beginning in March. It said its objective was to increase pressure on Hamas to release dozens of hostages it has held since its attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Though the flow of aid resumed in May, the amount is a fraction of what aid organizations say is needed. A breakdown of law and order has also made it nearly impossible to safely deliver food. Much of the aid that does get in is hoarded or sold in markets at exorbitant prices. Here is a look at a day in the life of the Sobh family: A morning seawater bath The family wakes up in their tent, which Fadi Sobh, a 30-year-old street vendor, says is unbearably hot in the summer. With fresh water hard to come by, his wife Abeer, 29, fetches water from the sea. One by one, the children stand in a metal basin and scrub themselves as their mother pours the saltwater over their heads. Nine-month-old Hala cries as it stings her eyes. The other children are more stoic. Abeer then rolls up the bedding and sweeps the dust and sand from the tent floor. With no food left over from the day before, she heads out to beg for something for her family's breakfast. Sometimes, neighbors or passersby give her lentils. Sometimes she gets nothing. Abeer gives Hala water from a baby bottle. When she's lucky, she has lentils that she grinds into powder to mix into the water. "One day feels like 100 days, because of the summer heat, hunger and the distress," she said. A trip to the soup kitchen Fadi heads to a nearby soup kitchen. Sometimes one of the children goes with him. "But food is rarely available there," he said. The kitchen opens roughly once a week and never has enough for the crowds. Most often, he said, he waits all day but returns to his family with nothing "and the kids sleep hungry, without eating." Fadi used to go to an area in northern Gaza where aid trucks arrive from Israel. There, giant crowds of equally desperate people swarm over the trucks and strip away the cargo of food. Often, Israeli troops nearby open fire, witnesses say. Israel says it only fires warning shots, and others in the crowd often have knives or pistols to steal boxes. Fadi, who also has epilepsy, was shot in the leg last month. That has weakened him too much to scramble for the trucks, so he's left with trying the kitchens. Meanwhile, Abeer and her three eldest children -- 10-year-old Youssef, 9-year-old Mohammed and 7-year-old Malak -- head out with plastic jerrycans to fill up from a truck that brings freshwater from central Gaza's desalination plant. The kids struggle with the heavy jerrycans. Youssef loads one onto his back, while Mohammed half-drags his, his little body bent sideways as he tries to keep it out of the dust of the street. A scramble for aid Abeer sometimes heads to Zikim herself, alone or with Youssef. Most in the crowds are men -- faster and stronger than she is. "Sometimes I manage to get food, and in many cases, I return empty-handed," she said. If she's unsuccessful, she appeals to the sense of charity of those who succeeded. "You survived death thanks to God, please give me anything," she tells them. Many answer her plea, and she gets a small bag of flour to bake for the children, she said. She and her son have become familiar faces. One man who regularly waits for the trucks, Youssef Abu Saleh, said he often sees Abeer struggling to grab food, so he gives her some of his. "They're poor people and her husband is sick," he said. "We're all hungry and we all need to eat." During the hottest part of the day, the six children stay in or around the tent. Their parents prefer the children sleep during the heat -- it stops them from running around, using up energy and getting hungry and thirsty. Foraging and begging in the afternoon As the heat eases, the children head out. Sometimes Abeer sends them to beg for food from their neighbors. Otherwise, they scour Gaza's bombed-out streets, foraging through the rubble and trash for anything to fuel the family's makeshift stove. They've become good at recognizing what might burn. Scraps of paper or wood are best, but hardest to find. The bar is low: plastic bottles, plastic bags, an old shoe -- anything will do. One of the boys came across a pot in the trash one day -- it's what Abeer now uses to cook. The family has been displaced so many times, they have few belongings left. "I have to manage to get by," Abeer said. "What can I do? We are eight people." If they're lucky, lentil stew for dinner After a day spent searching for the absolute basics to sustain life -- food, water, fuel to cook -- the family sometimes has enough of all three for Abeer to make a meal. Usually it's a thin lentil soup. But often there is nothing, and they all go to bed hungry. Abeer said she's grown weak and often feels dizzy when she's out searching for food or water. "I am tired. I am no longer able," she said. "If the war goes on, I am thinking of taking my life. I no longer have any strength or power."
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Equity Markets Close Mixed Amid Mideast Tensions, Rate Cut Hopes
US benchmark equity indexes closed mixed on Friday, as markets weigh ongoing developments in the Isr Sign in to access your portfolio
7NEWS
13-06-2025
- Politics
- 7NEWS
Fears of all-out war as Israel launches ‘preemptive' strikes against Iran
Israel has attacked Iran's capital, with explosions booming across Tehran as Israel says it targeted nuclear and military sites. The strikes were a 'preemptive, precise, combined offensive' that included 'dozens of targets' across different areas of Iran, an Israeli military official said in a press briefing. The attack early on Friday comes as tensions have reached new heights over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program. The Board of Governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency for the first time in 20 years on Thursday censured Iran over it not working with inspectors. Iran immediately announced it would establish a third enrichment site in the country and swap out some centrifuges for more-advanced ones. Israel for years has warned it will not allow Iran to build a nuclear weapon, something Tehran insists it does not want - though official there have repeatedly warned it could build them. The US has been preparing for something to happen, already pulling some diplomats from Iraq's capital and offering voluntary evacuations for the families of US troops in the wider Middle East. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel took 'unilateral action against Iran' and that Israel advised the US that it believed the strikes were necessary for its self-defence. 'We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,' Rubio said in a statement released by the White House. Rubio also issued a warning to Iran that it should not target US interests or personnel. People in Tehran awoke to the sound of the blasts. Both Iran and Israel closed their airspace. It was not immediately clear what had been hit, though smoke could be rising from Chitgar, a neighbourhood in western Tehran. There are no known nuclear sites in that area, but it was not immediately clear if anything was happening in the rest of the country. An Israeli military official says that his country targeted Iranian nuclear sites, without identifying them. The official spoke to journalists on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing operation, which is also targeting military sites. Benchmark Brent crude spiked on the attack, rising nearly five per cent on the news. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that his country carried out the attack, without saying what it targeted. 'In the wake of the state of Israel's preventive attack against Iran, missile and drone attacks against Israel and its civilian population are expected immediately,' he said in a statement. Katz 'signed a special order declaring an emergency situation in the home front', the statement said. 'It is essential to listen to instructions from the home front command and authorities to stay in protected areas,' it said. Iran halted flights Friday at Imam Khomeini International Airport outside of Tehran, the country's main airport, Iranian state TV said. Iran has closed its airspace in the past when launching previous attacks against Israel during the Israel-Hamas war. As the explosions in Tehran started, President Donald Trump was on the lawn of the White House mingling with members of Congress. It was unclear if he had been informed but the president continued shaking hands and posing for pictures for several minutes. Trump earlier said he was urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off from taking action for the time being while the administration negotiated with Iran. 'As long as I think there is a (chance for an) agreement, I don't want them going in because I think it would blow it,' Trump told reporters.
New York Times
16-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Israel Threatens Further Escalation in Gaza War
Israel's defense minister warned on Wednesday that the war in Gaza would soon escalate with 'tremendous force' and an extended humanitarian blockade if Hamas did not quickly release hostages amid stalled cease-fire negotiations. The blunt and detailed statement by the minister, Israel Katz, came as a growing list of former Israeli security officials accused the government of prolonging the war at the expense of the surviving hostages who remain in Gaza. At the same time, the United Nations warned that the humanitarian situation in Gaza was likely at its worst since the conflict began in October 2023, and that the population was once again on the brink of famine. Mr. Katz said Israeli troops would remain in the territory in Gaza that the military had seized last month after the collapse of a six-week cease-fire. During the truce, Hamas freed about 30 living hostages and returned the bodies of eight others. He said the Israeli military would use 'tremendous force, from the air, land and sea' to destroy Hamas bunkers both above and below ground, and keep up the evacuations of Gazans who again are being forced to leave their homes to escape the strikes. Already, hundreds of thousands of Gaza residents have been displaced. These measures aim to 'bring about the release of all the hostages,' Mr. Katz said, while carving out a path to defeat Hamas later. 'If Hamas persists in its refusal, the activity will expand and move to the next stages,' Mr. Katz said. An American proposal, introduced last month by the Trump administration envoy Steve Witkoff, would require Hamas to release some living hostages without guarantees from Israel that it would permanently end the war — something Hamas has been demanding. Hamas has rejected the U.S. plan as well as demands that it disarm as part of an eventual settlement. But frustration is mounting in Israel that the ramped-up war is putting the remaining hostages in greater peril. On Wednesday, hundreds of former senior Israeli police officials joined a group of nearly 1,000 active-duty and reserve forces who had earlier called for a negotiated agreement to free the hostages immediately. And U.N. officials said time was running out for the nearly two million Gazans who depend on foreign aid for survival. The aid that was delivered to Gaza during the cease-fire that ended last month has 'practically run out,' said John Whyte, the acting deputy director of the Gaza operations for UNRWA, the U.N. agency that aids Palestinians. 'We are facing once again the prospect of famine,' Mr. Whyte warned on Tuesday. Separately, the main U.N. agency for humanitarian affairs said that Israel's intensified military operations, aid blockade, evacuation orders and disruption of health care 'are driving what is likely the worst humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip since October 2023.' It cited vast food and water insecurity and attacks on hospitals that have disrupted 'an already decimated health system.' Mr. Katz said that while the Israeli military would continue to block humanitarian aid to Gaza, he also called for 'creating an infrastructure for distribution through civil society later on.' That prompted an immediate backlash from rival officials in Israel's government who accused him of giving into Hamas, which has some control of how food is distributed in the territory. 'Cutting off aid is one of the main levers of pressure on Hamas, and returning it before Hamas gets on its knees and releases all of our hostages would be a historic mistake,' Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right national security minister, said on social media. Mr. Katz said his comments were being distorted by 'those who try to mislead.' 'Israel's policy is clear and no humanitarian aid is about to enter Gaza," he said in a follow-up statement.
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Allies wary of Trump admin's incompetence after scandal over military plan group chat
Not only has the scandal over Trump officials discussing military plans in a group chat on an insecure commercial platform made the Trump administration look like fools to Americans paying attention, but overseas allies are drawing conclusions about the risk of sharing intelligence with America when its top officials are so careless with sensitive data. Alexander Ward, national security reporter for the Wall Street Journal, talks with Rachel Maddow about his reporting that it was actually an Isr
