“We Just Want the Fear to End”: Gaza Families Struggle as Aid Collapses Under Total Blockade

Gaza:  In a makeshift tent on a patch of farmland near the shattered town of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, Ibtisam Ghalia sits with her four children, rationing what little food remains. A kilogram of beans, a bag of lentils, a pinch of salt, and some flour—enough for only a few flatbreads—are all that stand between the family and hunger.

Since Israel imposed a total blockade on the Gaza Strip more than two months ago, barring food, medicine, fuel, and other essential goods from entering the territory, Ghalia has watched her family's supplies dwindle to almost nothing.

“We are trying as much as possible to stretch our food since the crossings closed,” said Ghalia, 32. “We now eat just one or two meals a day. I divide the bread among my children just to curb their hunger. I try to eat less so there’s enough for them.”

Prices in Gaza’s devastated markets have surged amid the deepening crisis. Basic items like sugar, once priced at a dollar per kilo, now sell for 20 times as much. A sack of poor-quality flour costs far beyond what most families can afford. The World Food Programme was forced to shutter its bakeries weeks ago due to shortages of flour and fuel, and aid kitchens that once provided nearly a million meals daily are running out of stock. UN warehouses are reportedly empty.

“We just have a few days of supplies left. Each day is worse than the one before,” said Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGOs Network in Gaza. The United Nations last week reported more than 10,000 cases of acute malnutrition among children across the enclave, including at least 1,600 cases of severe acute malnutrition.

Ghalia and her children live in constant fear. The sound of Israeli airstrikes and shelling is a near-daily presence in their encampment. In December 2023, her husband, Hamza, was killed in a drone strike while searching for food in the ruins of their former home. He died alongside Ghalia’s uncle and cousin.

“I didn’t scream or fall apart when I found them. I thanked God that I was able to find and bury them,” she recalled. “The hospital refused to receive or shroud them, saying they were already decomposing and there were no burial shrouds. So we wrapped them in blankets and buried them ourselves.”

The trauma has taken its toll on Ghalia’s children. Her eldest son, 10-year-old Hossam, now assumes adult responsibilities, scavenging for firewood so the family can cook. With no cooking gas or fuel available, many residents burn wood scraps, waste plastic, and cardboard to prepare food.

“If he is just a little late coming back, I panic,” said Ghalia. “I cannot lose a son as well as my husband.”

Her nine-year-old daughter, Jinan, suffers from recurrent nightmares. “I miss my father – his voice and his smell. He used to take us for kebabs at the weekend,” she said. “Now, there’s nothing to buy in the markets. I miss school so much. My mother told me that when I grow up, I will become a teacher because I love learning, and I hope I succeed in that. All I fear now is losing one of my siblings.”

On a recent afternoon, Ghalia’s sister was struck in the leg by a stray bullet while cooking near their tent. Such incidents have become increasingly common amid continued Israeli military operations and the collapse of any semblance of civilian order.

Israeli officials defend the blockade as a measure to pressure Hamas into releasing the 59 hostages believed to remain in Gaza following the group’s deadly cross-border attack in October 2023, which killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians. While some Israeli leaders claim Hamas diverts aid for its fighters or sells it to generate revenue, humanitarian workers in Gaza say widespread theft is not currently occurring. However, they acknowledge that looting has increased in recent weeks due to growing desperation.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 437 Palestinians were killed and more than 1,000 injured between April 22 and 30. The total Palestinian death toll since the war began has surpassed 52,000, with most of the victims reported to be civilians. More than 2,300 people have died since Israel resumed major combat operations in March after backing away from a proposed second phase of a ceasefire agreement reached in January.

“We just want to live in safety,” said Ghalia. “We want the fear to end, the war to stop, life to return to how it used to be. We want our homes back.”

As she spoke, she turned back to the fading supplies in her tent. By Friday, the flour will be gone—leaving only the lentils and beans.