The rubble and twisted metal of a smashed-up Gaza bakery underscores one reason starving people in the north of the bombarded enclave, like the Awadeya family, are reduced to eating raw cactus leaves after nearly five months of Israel's military campaign. 

Mefalsim

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel is 'at war' following a surprise attack from Gaza by Hamas militants.

Israel-Gaza War

In the Gaza Strip, the dire situation resulting from Israel's military campaign, which has been ongoing for nearly five months, has led to severe food shortages. The destruction of vital infrastructure, exemplified by the wreckage of a local bakery, has compounded the crisis, forcing residents to find alternative food sources. Among those affected, families like the Awadeya are resorting to eating raw cactus leaves to survive, as traditional sources of nourishment become increasingly inaccessible. 

The continued conflict and its resultant impact on food availability have pushed the inhabitants of Gaza, particularly in the north, into extreme measures for sustenance. The consuming of cactus leaves, a desperate response to the situation, underscores the severity of the food scarcity faced by the people in the area.



Gazans turn to eating cacti due to lack of food

Almost five months into Israel's military campaign in Gaza, and those starving in the north of the bombarded enclave say they are having to be creative in order to eat. Marwan al-Awadiyah and his family are one such family. They have taken to eating the leaves of prickly pear cactuses to ward off hunger. While the fruit of prickly pear cactuses are commonly eaten around the Mediterranean, the thick leaves are only ever consumed by animals mashed up in their feed. Today we can still find cactus. In a week, the cactus will no longer be available and we will live on nothing. We will die. I, approximately in one month, have lost some 30 kilograms. And I have a photo. One month, I have lost 30 kilograms. Why? Because there is no food. This is our food now in the northern Gaza Strip. There is nothing else. Everything is gone. There is nothing left. A crane lifts equipment from the ruins of Kamel Ajor's smashed-out bakery. The destruction here underscores one reason starving people are reduced to eating raw cactus leaves in the enclave. Ajor's business is not alone. Most bakeries in the area lie in rubble. Bread will be crucial to any sustained effort to relieve Palestinian hunger. One in six children in northern Gaza is wasting from malnutrition. People have had to bake bread themselves as best as they can over fires made with wood salvaged from ruined buildings. They make bread from animal feed and bird seed. Most say they can only eat once a day at most. Aid is flowing into southern parts of the Gaza Strip, though too slowly to avert a hunger crisis even there. And it barely makes it to northern areas that are further from the main border crossing and only accessible through more active battlefronts. Israel has said the failure to get enough aid into Gaza to meet humanitarian needs is due to UN distribution failures.

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Israel-Gaza War