NYT details Gazans’ struggles to find food amid spiraling humanitarian crisis

The New York Times follows three families in Gaza, from Beit Lahiya, Rafah, and Gaza City, on their search for food in the war-torn Strip.

In the northern Gaza Strip, aid convoys have been rare — in February one was the scene of a deadly melee — so many Gazans head to street markets.

“Some vendors used to run grocery stores and are selling what stock they have left,” says the newspaper. “Others buy and resell humanitarian aid.”

One of the families makes small pitas from ground barley, generally used in animal feed, and corn flour.

“I can’t even describe how awful it tastes,” one man says.

Prices in the stores are inflated, chipping away at the families’ savings.

Many of the children wait in line for hours at charity kitchens distributing soup.

The situation is somewhat better in Rafah in the far south, where aid reaches more consistently and the IDF has yet to launch a widespread ground offensive. But there too inflation is severe, at over 500%.

A resident named Nizar says that some sell humanitarian goods that they don’t need, and those without connections struggle to receive aid.

There are also tensions within overcrowded apartments: “People start criticizing each other and keeping track of everything, trying to hide things for fear they’ll run out,” says a Rafah resident named Amany. “Some sneak out in the middle of the night to eat everything before anyone notices.”