Jehad Al-Assar left his tent in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah early in the morning on a new and exhausting journey to get food for his family, Al Jazeera reports.
His destination: an aid distribution point in Rafah, in the far south of Gaza, run by the United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). With starvation spreading throughout Gaza, a direct result of Israel’s months-long blockade on the territory, the GHF site was Jehad’s only hope.
After walking for 90 minutes, the 31-year-old reached the iron gates of the distribution centre, alongside thousands of others, before they suddenly opened.
“Crowds surged in — thousands of people. There was no order at all,” Jehad told Al Jazeera. “People rushed towards the yard where aid boxes were stacked and moved into the inner hall, where there were more supplies.”
Inside the hall, people snatched whatever they could carry. “Anyone who could lift two boxes took them. Sugar and cooking oil were the priorities. They grabbed what they wanted and rushed out.”
Walaa Abu Sa’da has three children. Her youngest is only 10 months old. She left the distribution site empty-handed and asked a man carrying a torn parcel for flour, who refused.
Walaa described the experience as deeply humiliating. She was filled with shame and inferiority.
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