Children in Gaza Are So Hungry They’re Drawing Pictures of Food in the Sand

Palestinian children in Gaza are so hungry that they’re drawing pictures of food in the sand, according to a Gaza reporter, as the population is being starved by the most brutal form of Israel’s aid blockade yet for the past three weeks.

“My friend told me today that he keeps watching food videos because he wishes to have a plate of meat or fish. Many children in my neighborhood outside were drawing food by their hands on the sand,” wrote Palestinian reporter Abubaker Abed on social media this week.

“Another neighbour hopes to see meat before his eyes. He is desperate for it,” Abed said.

Israel’s total aid blockade is now in its fourth week, with Palestinians once again facing relentless bombardment after Israeli authorities unilaterally ended the ceasefire deal last week.

Both the bombardments and the blockade are even harsher than they were prior to the pause, with Israel killing at least 103 Palestinians a day in bombings, according to Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, and Israel now having blocked all aid into Gaza for the longest period of the genocide so far.

The World Food Programme (WFP) says it has a maximum of two weeks left of food stocks, while its flour supplies are only enough to maintain bread production at its bakeries for five days.

Even commercial goods have been barred by Israeli authorities, WFP says. Food prices in the besieged enclave have soared, with goods like flour now selling for U.S.$50 a bag — a 400 percent increase compared to pre-March 18 prices.

This means that the “record low stocks” of food are putting hundreds of thousands of Palestinians at risk of “severe hunger and malnutrition,” WFP said.

“During the ceasefire, 500–600 trucks arrived daily. Now, nothing,” wrote UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees head Philippe Lazzarini. “Parents cannot find food for their children. The sick are without medicine. Prices are soaring. Hunger is increasing while the risk of diseases spreading is looming.”

Israel is further hampering aid work by targeting and killing aid workers. In the last week alone, the UN reported on Wednesday, Israel has killed eight aid workers in Gaza, bringing the total number of aid workers killed in the genocide to 399. In addition to that number, Gaza Civil Defense officials announced on Thursday that nine Palestinian Red Crescent workers who had been missing for days, as well as several civil defense workers, were confirmed killed by Israeli forces.