Abumarzouq, who moved to Perth from Gaza in 2015, says his family, still in Gaza — including young children — are starving. They’re surviving on the last remaining canned goods and drinking water contaminated with seawater and sewage.

Ahmed’s brother, Maher Abumarzouq, has resorted to walking several kilometres a day in search of food for his family. Source: Supplied

‘Babies are dying because mothers can’t produce milk’

“They’re lucky if they get one small meal a day,” he said. “Everybody might get a few bites. It’s not a meal that’s fulfilling.”

As Ahmed Abumarzouq’s family spends hours a day searching for food, he says what they’re living through is like something out of the “dark ages”. Source: SBS News / Christopher Tan

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) reported on 12 May that around half a million people — one in five in Gaza — are now facing starvation. UNRWA warns the entire population is at risk of famine.

“At best, families share one meal a day,” a UNRWA spokesperson told SBS News. “But a ‘meal’ sometimes means no more than sharing a can of beans or a pot of rice among all family members.”

“Babies are dying because mothers don’t have [anything] to feed their babies. They can’t produce enough milk to even feed the newborn babies.”

‘An eggplant costs $25’

“Hunger is no longer the exception in Gaza. It is everywhere,” a UNRWA spokesperson said.

UNRWA said people used to queue for hours to get a small meal. Now, they say the “lines are gone” and “there’s no food left”. Source: Supplied / UNRWA

Abumarzouq’s family has been surviving on preserved canned foods — beans, chickpeas, and vegetables — previously delivered by humanitarian aid trucks.

“They found some old spaghetti … they grind it and try to make bread with it. So they try to get anything to eat,” he said.

‘Like being thrown into the middle of the desert’

Currently, that number is zero.

Palestinian families are lucky if they access one meal a day, UNRWA says. Source: Supplied / UNRWA

One UNRWA staff member said people used to queue for hours for flour or a small meal. Now, “even the lines are gone; there is no food left”.

UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini told the BBC on Tuesday he believes Israel is using food and aid denial as a weapon of war — a potential war crime under international law.