STORY: Mervat Hijazi and her nine children didn't eat at all on Thursday (May 22) - save her underweight baby who had a sachet of peanut paste.

"I can’t even provide half a loaf of bread", Hijazi told Reuters from their tent pitched amid the rubble of Gaza City.

"My children wake up wanting food. I can’t sleep at night, thinking about how they will eat, how they will drink, how they will get through their day."

Six-year-old Zaha can't sleep because of Israel's bombardment.

Hijazi, 38, recounted her family's difficult week:

On Sunday, May 18: Her family was given about half a kilo of cooked lentils from the community kitchen, half the amount she would normally use for a single meal.

Monday: A charity was distributing some vegetables in the camp but there wasn't enough to go around and Hijazi's family didn't get any. Her 14-year-old daughter Menna went to the community kitchen, run by a local charity, and came back with a meagre amount of cooked potato. Everyone was hungry so they filled up by drinking water.

Tuesday: The family received about half a kilo of cooked pasta from the kitchen. One daughter was also given some falafel by an uncle who lived nearby.

Wednesday: A good day, relatively. They received a bowl of rice with lentils at the community kitchen. It wasn't nearly enough, but Menna went back and pleaded with them and they eventually gave her two other small dishes.

Thursday: the kitchen was closed, the family couldn't find out why. They had nothing to eat except for the peanut sachet for 11-month-old Lama, received from a clinic as a nutritional supplement because baby milk formula has all but disappeared.

"For the past two weeks, she hasn’t had milk," said Hijazi, whose husband was killed early in the war as he cycled to get food from a charity kitchen nearby. "I don't have enough milk in my breasts to feed her because I hardly eat myself", she added.

Hijazi's family is from the Sabra district of Gaza City in the north of the enclave where Israel's first assault was concentrated. Her husband Mohammed was killed on November 17, 2023 and the rest of the family decided to flee the district the same day.

They went south to the central Gaza area of Deir al-Balah, first staying with family and then moving to an encampment for the displaced. They returned to Gaza City after a ceasefire was agreed in January, but their home had been damaged and they are now living in a tent.

The Hijazis' plight is a snapshot of the misery plaguing the Palestinian enclave of Gaza. A global hunger monitor warned this month half a million people face starvation while famine looms.

Israel has been bombarding and besieging Gaza since the territory's ruling group Hamas launched a surprise attack against Israeli border communities on October 7, 2023. The Hamas attack killed 1,200 people, according to Israel, while Gazan authorities say the ensuing Israeli offensive has killed more than 53,000 people.

Israeli authorities have repeatedly said there is enough food in Gaza to feed the population and accuse Hamas of stealing aid in order to feed its fighters and to maintain control over the territory, an accusation the group denies.

This week Israel started allowing some food to enter the territory for the first time since March 2, including flour and baby food.

Israel and the U.S. want to distribute food only in places controlled by Israeli troops, a plan the U.N. and aid agencies have attacked, saying it will lead to further displacement of the population and that aid should flow through existing networks.

Hijazi said her family had seen no sign yet of the new aid and she is consumed by worry for her baby, Lama, who was 5 kg when weighed last week. That's about half the average for a healthy one-year-old girl according to World Health Organization charts.

This week they've had, at most, a single meal a day to share, the mother added.

U.N. aid chief Tom Fletcher said this week that the amount of aid Israel was proposing to allow into Gaza was only "a drop in the ocean" compared to what was needed.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

SHOWS: GAZA CITY, GAZA (MAY 22, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. DISPLACED PALESTINIAN WOMAN, MERVAT HIJAZI, SITTING WITH HER CHILDREN INSIDE HER TENT

2. ELEVEN MONTH OLD LAMA, HOLDING BOTTLE

3. HIJAZI SITTING WITH HER CHILDREN INSIDE THE TENT

4. LAMA HOLDING BOTTLE

5. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED PALESTINIAN WOMAN, MERVAT HIJAZI, 38, SAYING:

"This girl, up until this moment, hasn’t eaten. What has she eaten since this morning? Our children are dying slowly. What can I tell you? If there is a soup kitchen, they eat. If not, they don’t eat."

6. VARIOUS OF HIJAZI SITTING WITH HER CHILDREN INSIDE THE TENT

7. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED PALESTINIAN WOMAN, MERVAT HIJAZI, 38, SAYING:

"We are exhausted. We are so tired that death would be more honourable. Life has become a tragedy. Dying would be more dignified; this is not a life. My children wake up wanting food. I can’t sleep at night, thinking about how they will eat, how they will drink, how they will get through their day."

8. HIJAZI SITTING WITH HER CHILDREN INSIDE THE TENT

9. VARIOUS OF HIJAZI'S DAUGHTER FEEDING HER YOUNGER SISTER, LAMA

10. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED PALESTINIAN WOMAN, MERVAT HIJAZI, 38, SAYING:

"For the past two weeks, she hasn’t had milk. Today, I was forced to go to the agency (UNRWA) and get her a supplement (dietary). I asked for milk, and they told me that when it is time for the yearly vaccination (for children), I’ll get a can of milk. Am I supposed to give her water? Will water help her? Even the water we get is not clean."

11. VARIOUS OF HIJAZI’S CHILDREN INSIDE THE TENT

12. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED PALESTINIAN WOMAN, MERVAT HIJAZI, 38, SAYING:

“We are dying. The Palestinian people, we are dying here. This is not a life. The children ask me for things, and I can’t give them what they want. They ask for the bare minimum, even just bread. I can’t even provide half a loaf of bread."

13. VARIOUS OF HIJAZI COMBING HER DAUGHTER'S HAIR

14. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED PALESTINIAN WOMAN, MERVAT HIJAZI, 38, SAYING:

"Before the war, thank God, we had an income, food, drink, fruits. We had chicken. Bread was available. Even if there was no chicken, there was still bread. Everything was available to us before the war."

15. VARIOUS OF HIJAZI WASHING CLOTHES INSIDE THE TENT

16. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED PALESTINIAN WOMAN, MERVAT HIJAZI, 38, SAYING:

"When I lost my husband, I lost everything in life. He used to support me and bring me everything. Now, who is left to help me? No one checks on anyone anymore. I feel like I am lost. The head of the household is gone. If he were still here, I wouldn’t need for my voice to go out or for people to hear me or know (about my situation). He used to provide everything for me. But now, as you can see, we want our voices to reach all the Arab countries, to save us from this war and bring us food and water. At the very least, bring us food and water.”

17. VARIOUS OF HIJAZI’S DAUGHTER HEATING WATER ON A FIRE

DEIR AL-BALAH, GAZA (MAY 21, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

18. DISPLACED PALESTINIAN GRANDMOTHER, BASMA AL-SHEIKH KHALIL, WALKING IN ENCAMPMENT CARRYING EMPTY PLATE

19. VARIOUS OF KHALIL HEADING TO SOUP KITCHEN TO FILL HER PLATE WITH FOOD / MAN POURING FOOD INTO KHALIL'S PLATE

20. KHALIL WALKING ALONGSIDE HER GRANDSON AFTER FILLING HER POT

21. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED PALESTINIAN GRANDMOTHER, BASMA AL-SHEIKH KHALIL, SAYING:

“We are hearing that there is an opening of crossings, and they have provided aid, but we don’t see it. (There are) no vegetables, no fruits, no flour. It’s all empty talk. We haven’t seen anything on the ground, nothing tangible.”

22. VARIOUS OF KHALIL RETURNING TO HER TENT WITH THE FILLED PLATE IN HER HANDS

23. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED PALESTINIAN GRANDMOTHER, BASMA AL-SHEIKH KHALIL, SAYING:

“The whole people are hungry, people can’t find (something) to eat. We can’t find (something) to eat, there is no flour. We hope aid comes in, food, flour, vegetables, fruits. We are deprived; we’ve been deprived of these things for two years.”

24. VARIOUS OF KHALIL SERVING FOOD ONTO PLATES INSIDE THE TENT

25. VARIOUS OF KHALIL AND HER GRANDCHILDREN EATING WHILE SITTING ON THE GROUND

26. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED PALESTINIAN GRANDMOTHER, BASMA AL-SHEIKH KHALIL, SAYING:

“Is this food enough for children? It’s not enough for them. Their health has deteriorated. Some of them are now suffering from anemia. Sometimes they get stomach cramps from that food. We take them to the hospital, and they put an IV or needle for them, because children can’t handle it. This food isn’t nutritious. They need supplements, they need vegetables, fruits, and (food) like (other) children. There’s nothing, nothing. Before, when we were in our homes, they used to eat everything. Now, nothing is available.”

27. VARIOUS OF KHALIL'S GRANDCHILDREN EATING / FOOD BEING SERVED

28. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED PALESTINIAN GRANDMOTHER, BASMA AL-SHEIKH KHALIL, SAYING:

“We are a people who are tired, the tortured people on this earth. Every two years, a war. Every year, a war. We have no strength or capacity to endure left. Have mercy on us. Look at us with mercy. God is merciful, God’s mercy embraces everything. So why don’t you look at us with mercy and open the crossings? Let the aid in. Demand from (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu to stop this war.”

29. KHALIL USING PIECE OF PAPER TO IGNITE A FIRE FOR COOKING / POT ON FIRE

30. KHALIL SITTING BY POT ON FIRE