“For days now, I have been looking for milk for my two-years-[old] baby and I haven’t found it yet, which really, really breaks my heart that I’m not able to provide it.”

Abed El Rahman says cash is also hard to come by in Gaza and he only gets half the value of the money he electronically transfers to a merchant in exchange for local currency. Credit: Supplied

What food can be found for his infant and other children — a 12-year-old daughter, and two sons aged eight and 11 — comes at a steep price.

Two out of three famine thresholds have been reached in the strip, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification platform.

‘A grave risk of famine’

At least 16 children under five have died from hunger-related causes since mid-July, while over 20,000 were treated in hospitals for acute malnutrition.

According to internal UN databases, since 19 May 2025 over 1,750 aid trucks have been intercepted “either peacefully by hungry people or forcefully by armed actors, during transit in Gaza”.

The Israeli military has acknowledged that civilians have been harmed by its gunfire near distribution centres, and says its forces have now received better instructions.

‘This is my daily meal’

Whatever he’s able to find at the market makes up the one daily meal he and his family eat.

Abed El Rahman’s family sits down to eat a simple dinner cooked over a wood fire. Credit: Supplied

“This is my daily meal, it is just one meal, it costs me around 80 dollars,” he says.

“The rescue teams pulled out my father from under the rubble … lucky for me, me and my family were not here at home on that night.”