RAFIF ESLEEM

Gaza- Israel has carried out attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, killing, injuring and displacing thousands. Since the start of the war, Palestinians have been making extraordinary efforts to meet their most basic needs and live in dignity. Due to Israeli blockade, finding clean water and a kg of flour is almost impossible for Palestinian women.  

Thousands of people in the Gaza Strip are at risk of dying from starvation-related complications. Palestinian women try to cook for their families by burning everything they can find such as schoolbooks and clothes.

Kholoud Abu Sharar is one of Palestinian women, who try to cook by burning everything they can find such as clothes, shoes, schoolbooks, plastic toys and waste. “I am exhausted, feeling like my health is getting worse every day,” she told NuJINHA.

Kholoud Abu Sharar suffers from severe headaches and has difficulty in breathing. “I use mostly plastic waste to cook and it causes severe headaches and it becomes almost impossible to eat what I cook because of the plastic smell. What we eat tastes like rancid garbage.”

‘All I want is to protect my children’

The hands of Kholoud Abu Sharar are full of burns and scalds. Lighting a fire has become a nightmare for her. “It is almost impossible to light a fire without burning your hands,” she said. “Our house was hit by an Israeli airstrike in March. I used all the half-burnt wood left from my house to cook. Now, there is no furniture or wood to burn. All I want is to protect my children.”

A while ago, she was hospitalized after she lost consciousness while cooking and she was diagnosed with a lung infection. She hopes to have liquefied petroleum gas as soon as possible to use it as a fuel for cooking.

Another Palestinian woman, Meisa Haboush pointed to the rising flour prices in Gaza. “The flour crisis began five months ago. Everyone thought that the ceasefire would last long so no one stored flour.

“We cannot afford to buy flour due to its high prices. We make bread from lentil flour. Look! These are bags of flour that are now filled with clothes and personal belongings instead of flour. As displaced people, we cannot find even a bag so I washed them to use again. However, my son cries whenever he sees these bags because he thinks that they are full of flour to fill his stomach.”