Displaced families in Gaza search for their next meal amid scarce supplies and soaring prices

As food prices in Gaza soar amid Israel’s war with Hamas, people sheltering in crowded apartments that line the streets of Rafah are unsure how they’ll continue to feed their families.

Dalia Abu Samhadana, a young mother sheltering with her uncle’s family in a crowded house of 20 in Rafah, says the only food staples at her local market are tomatoes, onions, eggplants, oranges and flour. All are virtually unaffordable.

A 25-kilogram (55-pound) bag of flour before the deadly October 7 Hamas attack in southern Israel and subsequent war in Gaza cost around $10. Since then, it has fluctuated between $40 and $100.

“My money has almost run out,” says Abu Samhadana, unsure of how she will be able to feed her daughter.

Elsewhere in southern Gaza, Nouman Abu Jarad says the task of finding food and water takes up most of his family’s time.

He says that each day, he and several of his younger relatives collect jugs of water from one of the public pipes nearby, which is exclusively used for washing and is unsuitable for drinking. Next, they head to one of the dozens of drinking water tankers dotted across the city, where they wait in line for hours.

A gallon of drinking water costs one shekel, or 28 cents. Some, so desperate for cash, wait in line just to sell their space.

Nouman’s wife, Majeda says that the food scarcity, coupled with rapidly spreading disease, has severely impacted her young granddaughter.

“My granddaughter is 10 months old, and since the day we came to this place, she has been suffering from weight loss and diarrhea,” says Majeda.

Going to the pharmacy offers little help. “We can’t find any (suitable) medicines available,” she adds.