Outside the Zadna Bakery in central Gaza, a long time ago, people waiting for bread, have always threatened to blend in with the mess.
The guards cried out at the crowd, and headed towards the bakery door, waiting for their turn. But no one heard it.
Just a few steps away, the female was pounding the bread she had obtained earlier that day for three times its original price. The sunset meal, which cut off Muslim days during the holy month of Ramadan, was approaching, and it was difficult to redo it all over the basics of Gaza, bread, water, cooking gas.
Even before the ceasefire took hold in Hamas on January 19th, it was not as hopeless as this empty market.
However, there has been no assistance since March 2nd. It was the day Israel accepted an extension of the current ceasefire stage and blocked all goods to pressure them to release more hostages rather than moving more hostages to the next stage.
Now, aid cutoffs of aid, exacerbated by panic purchases and uncruel traders who scoop out prices, are taking prices to a level where they can barely afford them. A shortage of fresh vegetables and fruits and rising prices have forced people to return to canned foods such as beans again.
Canned foods provide calories, but experts say people, especially children, need a diverse diet, including fresh foods, to stop malnutrition.
During the first six weeks of the ceasefire, aid workers and traders delivered food for Gazan, but many are still weak since months of malnutrition. Medical supplies from the bombed hospitals, plastic pipes to restore water supply, and fuel to move everything started flowing.
Data from the aid groups and the United Nations showed that children, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers were eating better. And according to the United Nations, more centres have begun offering treatment for malnutrition.
These were just small steps to alleviate the devastation created by the war, destroying more than half of Gaza’s buildings and putting many of its 2 million inhabitants at risk of hunger.
With the sharp rise in aid after the truce began, Gaza health officials reported that at least six newborns died of hypothermia in February due to a lack of warm clothing, blankets, shelters or medical care, numbers cited by the UN. Reports could not be independently validated.
Most hospitals are only partially, if any.
Aid groups, the United Nations, and several Western governments have urged Israel to criticize the use of humanitarian relief as a negotiation tip in negotiations, and in some cases criticize the cutoffs for violating international law.
Instead, Israel is putting pressure on it.
Last Sunday, it cut off the power supply to the territory. This is the move that, according to the United Nations, has shut down most of the work at desalination plants and has taken around 600,000 people to Gaza in central Gaza.
Israeli Energy Minister suggests that a water cutoff may be next. Aiding officials say some wells are still working in Central Gaza, but they only supply brackish water, which poses long-term health risks to those who drink it.
Israel had already shut down all other sources of electricity it used to provide Gaza on October 7, 2023, following the Hamas-led attack on Israel that launched a Hamas-led war against Israel. This left an important service to run on solar panels and generators if the power supply is completely available.
Nowadays, there is no fuel in it for anything: generators, ambulances, cars, etc.
Israel claims that the approximately 25,000 trucks of assistance Gaza has received in recent weeks has given people enough food.
“There is absolutely no shortage of essential products in strips,” the Foreign Ministry said last week. He repeated his claim that Hamas was taking over the aid he entered Gaza. He reiterated that half of the group’s budget comes from exploiting aid trucks.
Hamas calls the aid and electricity cutoff “cheap and unacceptable scary mail.”
Gaza residents say, at least for now, they have food, but often aren’t enough.
But aid officials warn that the number of humanitarian groups accumulated in the first six weeks of the ceasefire is already declining. It has already closed six bakeries in Gaza, supporting the kitchens of groups and communities, and forcing them to reduce the amount of groceries they hand out.
The order blocking aid also blocked access to commercial goods in Gaza imported by traders.
The street market has been quiet this week in Deial Al Bara city in central Gaza, due to low inventory of vendor fruits, vegetables, oils, sugar and flour. Vegetable sellers said the prices of onions and carrots doubled, zucchini almost quadrupled and lemon almost 10 times more expensive. The eggplants were difficult to find, and the potatoes were impossible.
As a result, sellers only bought a few vegetables, not kilograms as they once did. Others had no way to buy anything for months.
Many Gazan lost their jobs and spent their savings to survive the war. When prices surged, they were almost entirely dependent on aid.
Yasmin Al-Attar, 38, and her husband, driver, wandered from food stalls to food stalls in the Deir Al-Balah market, looking for the cheapest prices these days. They have seven children, a disabled sister and two aged parents.
Meals that break the speed of daily life during Ramadan could afford iftar the bare minimum of ingredients, Al Atar said. However, when fuel is blocked, it has also made it difficult to find fuel for my husband’s car and cooking.
“I felt a little relieved just three days ago because the prices seemed reasonable,” she said. Now the same money is enough for a much smaller amount of vegetables.
“Why is this enough for my large family?” she said.
That night, she said she would have no vegetables and probably in time for lentil soup. And then? Probably more canned food.
The stall owners and shoppers have at least partially denounced large traders, saying they are stocking up on supplies to boost prices and maximize profits. Deir Al-Balah vegetable seller Eissa Fayyad, 32, had snapped vegetables available at reasonable prices and many more resold.
It didn’t help that people rushed to buy more than they needed to hear about the Israeli decision to block aid again, said 38-year-old Khalil Rezik, a police officer in the city of Khan Yunis in central Gaza, where the department oversees the market and stores.
Hamas police officers have warned businesses about price procurement, vendors and shoppers said. In some cases, Rezik said his unit confiscated the vendor’s items and sold them cheaply on the spot.
However, such measures have done little to resolve the underlying supply issues.
Beyond the immediate challenge of supplying Gazan with food, water, medical supplies and tents, aid authorities said the inability to bring in grants has revived long-term recovery efforts.
They distributed farm seeds and animal feed to farmers, allowing Gaza to start growing more of his food, while others were working on rebuilding their water infrastructure and liquidating debris and misfire sources.
As Israel has limited or prohibited items containing heavy equipment needed to repair infrastructure, generators and more, aid authorities said. Israel claims that Palestinian extremists can use these items for military purposes.
For many Gazanians now, the focus is back to survival.
“There are no bombings at this point, but I still feel like I’m living in war with everything I’m experiencing,” said 38-year-old Nevine Siam, 38.
She said her sister’s whole family was killed during the battle. Her children ask to cook Ramadan meals that they remember from before the war. But without income, she can only get canned food in aid package.
She said she is not a celebration or a celebration decoration for the holy month.
“It feels like joy has disappeared,” she said.
Erika Solomon, Ameera Harouda and Rania Khaled contributed to the report.
