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ahaura · 5 months

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(Dec. 12) [Article] by Hind Khoudary

Article title:

Diary from Gaza: 'If death doesn’t come from airstrikes, it will come from starvation

Article subtitle:

Hind Khoudary, with the World Food Programme in Gaza, recounts hard days in the strip during and after a brief humanitarian pause

Article text:

After seven weeks of relentless bombardment that left 80 percent of Gaza's population – 1.8 million people – displaced, trapped and acutely hungry, a week-long humanitarian pause came into effect offering a temporary respite and allowing some aid into the small, decimated and fully-deprived enclave where food, water, medicine and any of life's necessities are dangerously low.

Hind, a native of Gaza, has made it her life's mission to share the stories of her people. In this account, she bears witness to the suffering befalling Gaza and how she and others are surviving. For weeks, Hind reported on life in Gaza. Below, she shares her story of displacement, the loss of her home, days without food, losing hope and finding it again.

Caption: A displaced Palestinian family now living in a makeshift camp in southern Gaza without water, electricity, or enough food. Photo: WFP/Ali Jadallah

24 November I woke up today to an unfamiliar silence. The absence of warplanes, drones and bombs. The uncertainty that it would last felt uneasy.

On the first day of the temporary pause, our footsteps led us to the Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital, where ambulances were transporting civilians wounded by gunshots on a road that was supposed to be safe. “We wanted to go back home,” a man with an injury in his right leg screamed.

People were shouting, doctors were in a rush trying to save those injured in their lower limbs from amputation. The hospital’s floors, once pristine, were now painted in the shades of spilled blood. As I looked around at the blood-soaked ground, I couldn't help but question, “Where is the ceasefire?”

Caption: Non-stop bombardment has decimated homes and buildings in Gaza, with families now living amid the rubble and searching for debris to make a fire to cook. Photo: WFP/Ali Jadallah

On that day at least 17 Palestinians were injured. Yet, as the day unfolded, an unsettling normalcy settled in – a silence that didn’t seem to care for the ruthless acts that left dozens of Palestinians dead or injured on the supposed respite's very first day.

In the midst of the heart-wrenching scenes, I decided to seek solace at the shore of Gaza, yearning for the calm sight of the sea and the soothing rhythm of the waves. The shore that I had been a stranger to for six weeks. Barefoot on the sand, I took a deep breath. All I hope for is an end to the violence.

Caption: The author and Palestinian families enjoy some respite on the shore of Gaza on the first day of the humanitarian pause (24 November). Photo courtesy of the author

Children were swimming in the sea, laughing and playing – seemingly oblivious to the war. Gazans used to gather at the sea for picnics with friends and family, but today there were none. The absence of any food underscored the stark contrast between the ordinary joys of life and the grim reality of conflict.

25 November

The humanitarian pause agreement was meant to allow aid into the Gaza Strip. And yet, the supermarket shelves were empty. People were searching for salt, yeast and wheat flour to make bread. Everyone was desperately searching for ways to bring bread back into their lives, in supermarkets or on the streets – but no one can find.

A sign stapled on a supermarket entrance read: “WE DO NOT HAVE YEAST OR SALT”.

We went to Deir El Balah’s marketplace searching for food, but we could not find any. Tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, eggplant and oranges are all you can find. We even searched for winter clothes and blankets; we also did not find any.

If some supermarkets had anything at all on their shelves, it was soap and shampoo.

People are still going to shops, navigating aisles in the hope of finding anything they can return with to their children yearning for sweets. But how do you soothe a child crying for chocolate when you cannot even make them bread?

There is not enough food or aid reaching all of the people in the Gaza Strip.

Caption: In in Deir El Balah people crowd a market searching for food, while shop shelves are empty. Photo: WFP/Ali Jadallah

6:00 pm: I found out my home was bombed from a video shared by someone on Instagram. I am still in denial. I won’t believe it until I see it with my own eyes. But I can’t.

Home is a couple of minutes away, but I cannot even go search for my belongings because people are restricted from going there. Gaza has been a besieged enclave since 2007 and Palestinians have had to deal with the lack of freedom in moving within the Strip or leaving it.

A temporary ceasefire without going back home was cruel. It is not only me. “Can we go back to our homes?”, is the only question everyone is asking. Not being able to go back home made me sad and depressed. But not being able to mobilize from the north to the south of Gaza has been suffocating more than bombardment.

During the seven-day humanitarian pause, WFP and partners managed to scale-up assistance and reach people in areas that were cut off from aid for weeks. Hundreds of humanitarian aid trucks crossed into Gaza, but this was not enough in the face of the catastrophe unfolding.

Then the fighting resumed once again, and with it, more displacement, the risk of famine, and disease.

1 December

On 7am on Friday morning, we woke up to the sound of explosions and drones buzzing in the sky.

We knew it was coming, but no one was ready for all of that to start again after seven days of calmness without the buzzing noise of drones.

Israeli warplanes started launching multiple air raids across Gaza, targeting residential areas everywhere in Gaza. Explosions have not stopped since the resumption of the fighting. Artillery shelling, drones, warplanes, gunboats fire have not stopped.

In the first 24 hours reports say at least 200 Palestinians were killed. Thousands remain under the rubble where the civil defence teams can’t rescue all of these people.

However, the Israeli forces published a map with block numbers. Every area was given a block number, where they will start giving each block instructions to evacuate. But no one knows which block their home has been assigned and no one knows where to go. They run from one area being bombed to another.

People were frustrated and terrified, they were already displaced from their homes to areas in Gaza that they were told would be safe. But the reality is this: in Gaza no place is safe. People are fleeing from one death to another.

Caption: Relentless bombardment on Gaza has displaced more than 85 percent of the population. Photo: WFP/Ali Jadallah

If death doesn’t come from airstrikes, it will come from starvation.

Today, we were sharing a bottle of juice that a friend managed to find. We were rationing it among ourselves when a massive explosion unexpectedly occurred close to where we are staying, we ran into each other fearing another explosion. This was the last bottle of juice we had in stock. I hadn’t managed to take a sip.

Today, I was intensely hungry. The only thing I could find was zaatar (thyme) and some bread that my friend’s mother made over firewood. To secure some wheat flour to bake bread, families can pay astronomical amounts of money. In one area inside Gaza, a bag of wheat flour – a rare find these days – was 400 NIS (US$ 107).

Food options are now a thing of the past. We no longer have a choice of what to eat, we eat what is available.

I yearned for something sweet. It has been so long without anything that I have forgotten the taste of pancakes with bananas.

4 December

We have officially run out of food. We went to the market to look for something to to eat and returned with cucumbers. We are drained, dehydrated, starving and cold.

People in Gaza city do not even have the freedom to search for food. Anyone who moves would be risking their lives. Neighbours have opened their doors to share whatever they have between them.

Now that the middle area of Gaza has been cut off, no aid has entered. People were asking to move but we have no way to leave and nowhere to go. The situation has been devastating more than ever.

We are starving. We are trapped. We are under non-stop explosions, airstrikes, artillery shelling, gunboat fire. Everything, everywhere, all at once.

We have no access to water - even dirty water - electricity, food, nothing.

Caption: Gazans forced to live in makeshift camps in southern Gaza line up to fill water in jerry cans. Photo: WFP/Ali Jadallah

Yesterday the first meal we had was at 8 pm. I was hungry all day long but I didn’t tell anyone because everyone was hungry too.

Today, in the morning, we had some bread for breakfast. But I cannot help but think “When will this end? When will we go home?“- despite our homes being bombed. Nothing exists. Nothing feels the same. It’s raining now, I just heard an airstrike.

People are tense, fragile and cold. They don’t have winter clothes, when they evacuated, they did not have time to take any of their clothes, belongings, loved things.

Me too. When I went out of the house, I went as if I was going to work and coming back. I ended up never coming back again.

Everything is heart-breaking and overwhelming. All of these babies, and children and dead bodies.

I hate the sirens of the ambulance. I hate seeing it rain because I know everyone is shivering, it is very cold.

Caption: The food brought in during the humanitarian pause was not enough to meet the soaring needs of the people of Gaza. Photo: WFP/Ali Jadallah

We haven't had electricity since the first couple of days. I forgot what electricity means.

I miss sleeping on my bed. I miss my mom. I miss my family. I didn’t get to see them for more than two hours in the past 60 days.

The violence is increasing day after day. More people are being killed, starved. We are witnessing all of this and we can’t do anything.

It’s heart-breaking to live through this with no end in sight. It is hard for me to accept that I cannot do anything but witness this carnage with everyone else in the Gaza Strip.

#palestine #hind khoudary #wfp #world food programme #articles #📁.zip

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ultyso · 2 months

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Another update

2/20/2024

[ID: Article by WFP:

20 February 2024

UN Food Agency pauses deliveries to the North of Gaza

ROME – The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is pausing deliveries of life-saving food aid to northern Gaza until conditions are in place that allow for safe distributions.

The decision to pause deliveries to the north of the Gaza Strip has not been taken lightly, as we know it means the situation there will deteriorate further and more people risk dying of hunger. WFP is deeply committed to urgently reaching desperate people across Gaza but the safety and security to deliver critical food aid - and for the people receiving it - must be ensured.

Deliveries resumed on Sunday after a three-week suspension following the strike on an UNRWA truck and due to the absence of a functioning humanitarian notification system. The plan was to send 10 trucks of food for seven straight days, to help stem the tide of hunger and desperation and to begin building trust in communities that there would be enough food for all. ]

Continued:

[ID: Continuation of article by WFP: On Sunday, as WFP started the route towards Gaza City, the convoy was surrounded by crowds of hungry people close to the Wadi Gaza checkpoint. First fending off multiple attempts by people trying to climb aboard our trucks, then facing gunfire once we entered Gaza City, our team was able to distribute a small quantity of the food along the way. On Monday, the second convoy’s journey north faced complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order. Several trucks were looted between Khan Younes and Deir al Balah and a truck driver was beaten. The remaining flour was spontaneously distributed off the trucks in Gaza city, amidst high tension and explosive anger.

In December, the Integrated Phase Classification report compiled by 15 agencies including WFP warned of the risk of famine in northern Gaza by May unless conditions there improved decisively. At the end of January, after delivering food to the north, we reported on the rapid deterioration of conditions. In these past two days our teams witnessed unprecedented levels of desperation.

The latest reports confirm Gaza’s precipitous slide into hunger and disease. Food and safe water have become incredibly scarce and diseases are rife, compromising women and children’s nutrition and immunity and resulting in a surge of acute malnutrition. People are already dying from hunger-related causes. ]

[ID: Continuation of article by WFP:

A report issued Monday by UNICEF and WFP, based on recent data, finds that the situation is particularly extreme in the Northern Gaza Strip. Nutrition screenings conducted at shelters and health centres in the north found that 15.6 per cent - or 1 in 6 children under 2 years of age - are acutely malnourished.

WFP will seek ways to resume deliveries in a responsible manner as soon as possible. A large-scale expansion of the flow of assistance to northern Gaza is urgently needed to avoid disaster. To achieve this, WFP needs significantly higher volumes of food coming into the Gaza strip from multiple routes, additionally, crossing points to the north of Gaza must open. A functioning humanitarian notification system and a stable communication network are needed. And security, for our staff and partners as well as for the people we serve, must be facilitated.

Gaza is hanging by a thread and WFP must be enabled to reverse the path towards famine for thousands of desperately hungry people. ]

WFP: Source

#free palestine #free gaza #updates #important #long post #WFP #world food programme #my god…

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nando161mando · 14 days

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"Everyone should be paid enough to do more than survive" (EN: English)

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an-onyx-void · 5 months

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Disclaimer: I am not the original owner or creator of this content. The source is listed below.

#tiktok #palestine #free palestine #free gaza #gaza #yemen #WFP #the united states of america #united states #united nations #united nations aid

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ohsalome · 1 year

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According to official estimates from Ukraine’s Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food (MAPF) and the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) with support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), the World Bank, and the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, since Russia invaded Ukraine, 84,200 pieces of agricultural machinery have been totally or partially damaged, four million tons of grains and oilseeds have been destroyed or stolen, and storage for 9.4 million tons of agricultural products has been damaged or destroyed.

While the total value of damages to Ukraine’s agriculture sector exceeds $6.6 billion, the total value of losses—the foregone agriculture-based revenue due to these damages—reaches $34.25 billion. According to MAPF and KSE, Ukraine suffered $11.2 billion in crop losses in 2022 and expects to absorb $3 billion in losses in 2022–2023 winter crops. Disruption of agricultural logistics—increased prices of transport and shipping coupled with plummeting domestic prices for export-oriented commodities—resulted in a further $18.5 billion in losses. Damages and losses are concentrated in Luhansk, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, and likely exceed beyond the figures stated here, which reflect survey results through September 15, 2022.

Today, WFP reports that a record 349 million people across 79 countries face acute food insecurity. This all-time high represents an increase of 200 million people compared to pre-Covid-19. In February 2023, the heads of the FAO, WFP, International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank Group, and World Trade Organization together warned of “an unprecedented shock to the global food system, with the most vulnerable hit the hardest.” Low- and middle-income, food-importing countries—particularly those countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia that relied on the Black Sea for their imports—have suffered the worst effects of the global food crisis. Two dynamics are worth emphasizing: the impacts of the Russia-Ukraine war on household nutrition, and the impacts on the provision of humanitarian assistance.

The United Nations recently estimated that in 2020, 3.1 billion people could not afford the least expensive form of a healthy diet, estimated to cost about $3.54 per day. The Global Diet Quality Project recently published the first-ever results of a global survey on diet quality, reporting that in 34 out of the 41 countries surveyed, less than half of the population is consuming diets that contain all five food groups commonly recommended for daily consumption in national dietary guidelines. Food price inflation caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine will likely continue to put nutritious foods out of reach for millions.

#ukraine #russia #war in ukriane #food crisis #food shortages #wfp #russian war crimes

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kozbeszedhu · 1 month

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A nemzetközi közösségnek mindent meg kell tennie annak érdekében, hogy a humanitárius segélyek akadálytalanul eljussanak a Gázai övezetbe

#wfp

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drsonnet · 1 month

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In #Gaza, starving children fill hospital wards as famine looms #Reuters#GazaFamine

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cawfp · 1 year

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California, let's #StopBigOil

In 2020, while working families across California suffered economic turmoil amidst a global pandemic, we also saw peak gas prices reaching as high as nearly $6. While oil companies claimed that the cause of this increase was state taxes or the war in Ukraine,

the reality is that these prices were the result of price gouging and corporate greed.

In 2021, California taxes on oil had not increase and the United States was EXPORTING more petroleum than it was importing. Crude oil costs were actually dropping as gas prices remained high.

Long story short, oil companies took advantage of Californians in an already trying time for the sake of their own financial benefit. As a result, oil companies saw RECORD profits and face no penalties.

In effort to stop this from happening again, California Senator Nancy Skinner introduced Assembly Bill 2, an oil price gouging penalty bill. This bill is what working families across California need & deserve, but it won’t pass without support from our CA Legislators.

Sign our petition to let your legislator know that you’re watching & you expect their support for SB2 to #StopBigOil : https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/support-an-oil-price-gouging-penalty

#california #vote #oil and gas #wfp #working families party #progressive #tax the rich #eat the rich #pro union #environment #climate action

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traitorthot · 5 months

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#yemen #watermelon #food #wfp #world food programme #humanitarian crisis #palestine

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phoenixyfriend · 2 months

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The IDF continues to block aid trucks. This was the WFP's first attempt to deliver food by land in two weeks. (BBC, Al Jazeera)

#current events #Gaza #Israel #wfp #idf #Palestine #Phoenix Politics

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vyorei · 6 months

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JOINT STATEMENT FROM UN AGENCIES CALLING FOR A CEASEFIRE AND IMMEDIATE UNRESTRICTED HUMANITARIAN ACCESS IN GAZA

#free gaza #gaza strip #irish solidarity with palestine #free palestine #palestine #gaza #news on gaza #al jazeera #boycott israel #israel #UN #United Nations #UNDP #UNFPA #UNICEF #WFP #WHO #World Health Organisation

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angelacheung-comm · 11 months

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Play📱Learn 📚 Give 💚 Help us fill a bowl!

For this blog, I want to talk about a non-profit website, Freerice. This website is created by computer engineer John Breen, then donated to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), a humanitarian organization that is committed to ending hunger and achieving food security and improved nutrition by 2030.(https://www.wfp.org/overview) This website was launched in 2007, it combined education and charity, allowing people to fight world hunger with their knowledge(https://freerice.com/about-us).

Freerice provides trivia questions in multiple categories like math, languages, science, geography, etc., and 10 grains of rice will be donated to WFP for each correct answer. This system allows people to contribute even when they don’t have the financial ability. My teacher from my middle school introduced me to this website, and I have been using it on and off for the past few years. It gave me a great sense of achievement knowing that I’m able to help fight world hunger without donating my parent’s money. Freerice has raised more than 220 billion grains of rice ($1.8M worth of rice) over the past years. The website reached 1 million users in 2012 and has grown into a global community of 8 million players a year.(https://www.wfpusa.org/get-involved/) However, I question how much better the results would have been if they have better promoted their website.

From what I can find, Freerice has an active Facebook page and an active Twitter account. The Twitter account (https://twitter.com/Freerice) was created in May 2009, it has 11.6k followers and they post a few times a month. Unfortunately, most of the content is only getting less than 10 likes. The Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/freerice) is in a similar situation, with 62k followers, but only 10-20 likes for each post. There used to be an Instagram account, but the page may have been removed and merged with the Facebook page. The TikTok link on the Freerice website is for the WFP account that’s not specifically for Freerice, but there is only one video about Freerice in the last 30 videos they posted. As I was going through the Twitter page(https://www.twitch.tv/wfpfreerice/videos), I found out that there is actually a Twitch account created in November 2022, which I believe is a great way to reach out to the younger generation.

I would say that they have made different attempts to raise awareness, such as creating campaigns and challenges during the holiday seasons, posting visual content, reacting to comments, and even collaborating with famous chefs and influencers for interviews. They understand their targeted user base and try to get their attention through social media platforms that they are more active on. The strengths they have in the past campaigns are the visual and educational content, the posts with quotes and challenges brought the most attention to their pages. Another advantage is their user base is different from most other non-profits, so there's less competition between the organizations. According to Similarweb (https://www.similarweb.com/website/freerice.com/#demographics), 30.79% of the users of Freerice are between 18 and 24 years old (the website doesn't show the age distribution status of underage). Their biggest weakness is not using many trendy hashtags or keywords, therefore, the algorithm is not able to promote them to the correct audiences. I believe their posts will be more popular if they can create or “hop on some trends”. It’ll also be beneficial if the website can collaborate with certain schools for some events, creating a somewhat competitive environment for the trivia games, because the main audience group of the non-profit is younger people who can't support charities financially. Challenging influencers to create videos or live streams about the games or educational content can greatly promote the website too. In my opinion, WFP could create something that can be compared to the “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge” to raise awareness. They can even utilize the charity features on Twitch to set fundraisers, collaborate with streamers to do charity streams, and give the viewers event related emotes to further promote the website (https://help.twitch.tv/s/article/twitch-charity?language=en_US). In that case, the threats would be how to make the challenge as meaningful (if not more meaningful) as the ALS challenge and make sure the donations are transparent so it wouldn’t negatively impact the reputation of the organization.(https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-swot-analysis/)

All in all, this is a non-profit that I think is contributing to a great cause while providing opportunities for people to expand their knowledge. I hope one day it'll get the attention it deserves, and reach their goal of ending world hunger by 2030.

#SusiSummer22 #SusiSummer22definesocialmedia #Freerice #WFP

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myeyeontheworld · 1 year

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Repost from @ Thekgase Kobe who volunteers his time in the Rondebult Community, Ekurhuleni. Thekgase has been a selfless volunteer with Hope SA Foundation since 2020. Community comes first. Today 7th March 2023 Ward 41 Ekurhuleni community enjoyed a delicious hot meal made at Thava Indian Restaurant and special treat of Danone UltraMel 1l custard. Hope SA Foundation Together With Namritha Sivsanker, Always Supporting Ward 41 with cooked food,vegetables,kids toys also supporting women with sanitary towels. Modimo Ke Woooooo Namritha 👏👏👏👏❤️❤️❤️❤️.We managed to feed 200 community members today👏👏👏❤️❤️ Thank you for your contributions and support. Hope SA Foundation feeds communities of all races and religion. Please support our Poverty alleviation Drives and donate at www.hopesa.org #food #poverty #africa #southafrica #unemployment #EconomicChallenges #ngo #donate #wef #wfp #un #sdgs World Food Programme #HopeSA #hope https://www.instagram.com/p/Cpf1RIQK6Cm/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#food #poverty #africa #southafrica #unemployment #economicchallenges #ngo #donate #wef #wfp #un #sdgs #hopesa #hope

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ausetkmt · 1 year

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Summary

The announcement follows a similar one by the US Agency for International Development.

USAID said on Wednesday it had discovered that food intended for millions of needy people in Tigray was being diverted and sold.

Neither organisation gave details of the source of the reports.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has paused food distribution in Ethiopia's war-ravaged Tigray region in response to reports that significant amounts of aid were being diverted, the agency said.

The announcement follows a similar one by the US Agency for International Development, which said on Wednesday it had discovered that food intended for millions of needy people in Tigray was being diverted and sold.

Neither organisation gave details of the source of the reports and the WFP did not say who was responsible for the diversions or when they had taken place.

But it said late on Wednesday it was strongly reiterating to our cooperating partners that they monitor and report any illicit activities, and that they are enforcing the agreed controls.

Calls to reconsider suspension

Tigray's interim regional government head Getachew Reda urged humanitarian agencies to reconsider suspending aid, saying in a statement that the moves would hurt their people who are facing grave challenges. Advertisement

He said he had set up a task force to investigate, calling the reported theft a crime against children, the elderly and the disabled.

A spokesperson for Ethiopia's federal government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A two-year war that erupted in November 2020 between the federal government and forces led by the Tigray People's Liberation Front, which dominates the northern region, killed tens of thousands of people, created famine-like conditions for hundreds of thousands and displaced millions.

Ethiopia’s government and Tigray forces agreed to end hostilities in November, which has allowed additional aid to reach the region and for some services to be restored.

#WFP suspends food aid to Tigray region over reported thefts #ethiopia #tigray region #world conflict zones #food insecurity in east africa #horn of africa #wfp

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