This festive season, Gaza is starving
Palestinian children wait for food at a distribution centre in south of Khan Younis, southern Gaza, 17 December 2024
Esraa Abo Qamar reports in Al Jazeera on 18 December 2024:
Winter has now come to the Northern Hemisphere and has ushered in a festive mood in many places. In Gaza, it has brought more misery. The cold weather and rain have made the lives of the 1.9 million Palestinians displaced in Gaza that much more unbearable.
It has rained hard several times already. Each time, tents of the displaced have been flooded, damaged, or destroyed, and what little some have had, has been taken away by the floodwaters.
That has left many destitute families even more destitute. A new tent in Gaza right now can go up to $1,000. A makeshift shelter – with the wood and plastic needed for cover – costs hundreds of dollars. A new blanket can be as much as $100. No one in the camps has such sums of money.
Many of the displaced had run away from the bombs with just the clothes on their backs. Some have tried to salvage clothes from the rubble, but few have succeeded.
As winter approached, the prices of clothes skyrocketed. A light pyjama now costs $95; a coat – as much as $100. A pair of shoes – a rare commodity – can go for as much as $75. Second-hand clothes markets have appeared throughout Gaza to address overwhelming demand, but the prices there are also too high.As a result, the camps are full of people shuddering in the cold in thin summer clothes. Children walk around barefoot in the mud and puddles.
Fuel for heating, which is either unavailable or unaffordable for most families. The cost of 8kg of gas has reached $72. Wood is a bit less, but also too expensive for most.
The lack of clothes and fuel for heating is increasing the risk of colds, flu and other diseases during the winter which in Gaza can become life-threatening. A malnourished, vulnerable body, exhausted by fear and trauma, struggles even against a simple cold.
Gaza’s hospitals are barely functioning, taking care mostly of people gravely wounded in the bombardment. Suffering from a lack of supplies and staff, they can no longer provide care for simple illnesses.
Diseases are spreading also because hygiene has also become nearly impossible to maintain.