GAZA: Father of four Mahmoud Al-Haw and other Palestinians crowd around a soup kitchen in war-ravaged Gaza, surging forward and frantically waving pots. Small children, squashed at the front, are in tears. One of them holds up a plastic basin hoping for some ladles of soup. Haw pushes forward in the scrum until he receives his share. Al-Haw does this every day because he fears his children are starving.

He sets out through the ruins of Jabalia in northern Gaza in search of food, waiting in panicked crowds for up to six hours to get barely enough to feed his family. Some days he gets lucky and can find lentil soup. Other days he returns empty-handed. “I have a sick daughter. I can’t provide her with anything. There is no bread, there is nothing,” said Haw, 39. “I’m here since eight in the morning, just to get one plate for six people while it is not enough for one person.”

The Zionist entity has blocked the entry of medical, food and fuel supplies into Gaza since the start of March, prompting international experts to warn of looming famine in the besieged enclave that is home to 2.3 million Palestinians. Few trucks were allowed to enter Gaza on Monday, after the Zionist entity agreed to allow limited humanitarian deliveries to resume following mounting international pressure. But by Tuesday night, the United Nations said no aid had been distributed. On Wednesday, Zionists gathered at the Karam Abu Salem crossing to block humanitarian aid from entering the strip.

The Zionist military has also intensified its military attacks on Gaza. Medics in the territory say Zionist strikes have killed more than 500 people in the past eight days.

The Zionist entity’s continued assault on Gaza has strained its relations with much of the world. European countries including France, Germany and Britain have said the situation in Gaza is intolerable, and even the support of its closest ally, the United States, now appears to be wavering.

Daily search for food

Gazans like Al-Haw, living in the epicenter of the war that is now in its 20th month, have no voice in the debate. Al-Haw’s life revolves around walking to food kitchens each day, through the destruction wrought by the Zionist entity’s bombardments.

Even before the war - fought intensively around the family home in Jabalia, just north of Gaza City - Al-Haw’s family had its struggles. His niece, who lives with them, uses a wheelchair. His daughter has heart disease and bronchial asthma, he says. Al-Haw climbs the stairs to his one-room apartment, where his children wait, sitting on a mattress. There is no surprise about what he has brought home - soup again.

He puts the soup in small tin bowls and hands them to his four children and his brother’s two children. The children, quiet, eat slowly and carefully. “Thank God, as you can see, this is breakfast, lunch and dinner, thank God,” he said. The day before, he said, his family had had nothing to eat. “I wish everyone would stand by us. Our children are dying slowly,” said Al-Haw. — Reuters