Australian Ahmed, worried for family amid spiralling crisis: 'Hope is lost'

Share this @internewscast.com

Ahmed Abumarzouq’s niece hasn’t seen an apple in four months. When they spoke recently, it was all she could talk about.

“She’s craving for an apple,” Abumarzouq told SBS News.

“We’re not talking about meat. They can barely walk because they haven’t had any protein in months. Now it’s just one meal to keep them alive. That’s it.”

Abumarzouq, who moved to Perth from Gaza in 2015, says his family, still in Gaza — including young children — are starving. They’re surviving on the last remaining canned goods and drinking water contaminated with seawater and sewage.

Six members of a family pose for a photo while seated on a couch.

Ahmed’s brother, Maher Abumarzouq, has resorted to walking several kilometres a day in search of food for his family. Source: Supplied

‘Babies are dying because mothers can’t produce milk’

It’s been more than 70 days since any food or aid has entered Gaza, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

Community kitchens are shutting down. Makeshift bakeries have run out of flour. And families, like Abumarzouq’s, are trying to survive on whatever scraps are left.

“They’re lucky if they get one small meal a day,” he said. “Everybody might get a few bites. It’s not a meal that’s fulfilling.”

A man with his arms folded poses for a photo while standing in his living room.

As Ahmed Abumarzouq’s family spends hours a day searching for food, he says what they’re living through is like something out of the “dark ages”. Source: SBS News / Christopher Tan

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) reported on 12 May that around half a million people — one in five in Gaza — are now facing starvation. UNRWA warns the entire population is at risk of famine.

“It’s just like the dark ages,” Abumarzouq said. “Nothing has entered Gaza since the 2nd of March — absolutely nothing.”

“At best, families share one meal a day,” a UNRWA spokesperson told SBS News. “But a ‘meal’ sometimes means no more than sharing a can of beans or a pot of rice among all family members.”

“People are sobbing. They’re depressed. They’ve lost hope. They have nowhere else to go,” Abumarzouq said.

“You’re watching your kids in front of your eyes cry for food.

“Babies are dying because mothers don’t have [anything] to feed their babies. They can’t produce enough milk to even feed the newborn babies.”

‘An eggplant costs $25’

Because of the lack of gas and electricity, families are resorting to burning logs — and sometimes plastic — to cook what little food they can find.

Kitchens are closed. Pantries are empty. Fishing is banned.

“My brother tries to fish, and he can’t — Israel won’t let them,” Abumarzouq said.

He said his family members are walking six kilometres each way, every day, in search of food. One eggplant cost his brother $25 last week.

UNRWA said there are now no fresh fruit or vegetables available in Gaza, and stocks of canned goods are dwindling.

“Hunger is no longer the exception in Gaza. It is everywhere,” a UNRWA spokesperson said.

A crowd of people holding pots for food.

UNRWA said people used to queue for hours to get a small meal. Now, they say the “lines are gone” and “there’s no food left”. Source: Supplied / UNRWA

Abumarzouq’s family has been surviving on preserved canned foods — beans, chickpeas, and vegetables — previously delivered by humanitarian aid trucks.

“But now, that is gone,” he said.

When he last spoke to his family, they had found some old spaghetti, which they ground down to try to make bread.

“They found some old spaghetti … they grind it and try to make bread with it. So they try to get anything to eat,” he said.

‘Like being thrown into the middle of the desert’

Abumarzouq said his family’s daily routine has been reduced to survival — walking for hours to fetch dirty water, letting it settle so the sediment drops to the bottom, and going to extreme lengths to get just one meal to share between the family.

“They go find something, whatever they can buy for food. That takes hours — because there are no cars, no fuel, nothing. It’s like being thrown into the middle of the desert,” he said.

Then, he said, they sleep — if they survive the night.

UNRWA said at least 600 truckloads of aid and commercial supplies are required daily to meet the scale of need in Gaza.

Currently, that number is zero.

Young children stand in two adjacent lines holding pots for food.

Palestinian families are lucky if they access one meal a day, UNRWA says. Source: Supplied / UNRWA

One UNRWA staff member said people used to queue for hours for flour or a small meal. Now, “even the lines are gone; there is no food left”.

for much of the war, but there has been a total blockade of any aid going into Gaza since 2 March.

UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini told the BBC on Tuesday he believes Israel is using food and aid denial as a weapon of war — a potential war crime under international law.

Israel denies there is a risk of famine and accuses Hamas of causing hunger by stealing aid meant for civilians. It says directly via neutral distribution sites.

But the World Health Organization has criticised that plan as “grossly inadequate” to meet the population’s immediate needs and the UN said it “does not accord with our basic principles, including those of impartiality, neutrality [and] independence”.

“It’s a disaster. Words can’t really describe it,” Abumarzouq said.

“You’re starving people. It’s now been two months and 13 days without food.

“This is a man-made crisis. The solution to this is very easy, but deliberately, they’re using food as a weapon.”

For the latest from SBS News, and .