Gaza City, Gaza Strip – It has been months since Huda Abu Leila had to resort to serving only tea and bread to her five daughters for breakfast. But this week, that’s what the ۳۰-year-old has had to do, after Israel restricted the entry of goods into Gaza earlier this month.
After living through three years of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, and the accompanying blockade that often leaves markets partly empty and goods unaffordable, Huda is used to struggling to provide her children – aged between ۱۸ months and ۱۰ years – with a balanced and nutritious diet.
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But the current situation, with shortages of commercial goods, rising food prices, and cuts to humanitarian assistance, has made it ever harder for her to put enough food on the table.
“We were affected immediately. We couldn’t find eggs or milk, and we don’t have the money to stock up on food,” Huda said.
She lives with her daughters in a tent in western Gaza City. Her husband was injured during the war and can no longer work, while she earns a little money by baking bread for other people.
Some days, the family eats canned beans with duqqa – a local spice blend – or za’atar. On days when food is not as readily available, like this week, they dip bread in tea.
What worries her most is how the worsening situation will affect her children’s health, particularly as she is already struggling to provide them with enough nutritious food.
Israel halted commercial shipments into Gaza on October ۱۴, disrupting supplies of food and other essential goods as families already struggling with high prices faced further shortages.
The suspension came amid a dispute over a demand for merchants to pay ۱۰,۰۰۰ shekels ($۳,۲۲۵) per truck to bring goods into the enclave.
On October ۱۹, Israel announced that commercial shipments would gradually resume.
The Israeli military body responsible for coordinating aid and commercial access to Gaza, COGAT, said merchants had reported that Hamas had withdrawn the demand. Hamas described the payment as a voluntary contribution to a fund supporting people affected by the war.
The disruption comes as humanitarian assistance is also reduced. On October ۱۹, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced that funding shortages had forced it to cut food assistance in Gaza.
The programme reduced the number of people it supports from ۱.۶ million in September to ۱.۱ million in October.
It has also halved food rations, with families receiving one food parcel instead of two, alongside a smaller bag of wheat flour. The number of hot meals WFP provides daily has been reduced from ۲۵۰,۰۰۰ to ۱۵۰,۰۰۰.
WFP said about ۱.۴ million people in Gaza, approximately two-thirds of the population, were facing acute food insecurity at crisis levels or worse.
Famine was declared in Gaza City in August ۲۰۲۵. The UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said in December of the same year that it had receded after the beginning of the Gaza ceasefire two months earlier.
Families struggle to provide nutritious meals
For Huda, the crisis means she can no longer afford many of the foods her daughters need for a balanced and nutritious diet.
Eggs have become too expensive. A shopkeeper recently quoted her ۶۰ shekels ($۱۹.۴۰) for a tray. She also said some shops appeared to be holding back stock.
Fresh vegetables have also become difficult to afford. When she goes to the market, which she usually does about once a week, she buys only small quantities.
“Onions cost about ۱۰ shekels [$۳.۲۵] per kilogramme, while tomatoes cost between ۱۰ and ۱۵ shekels per kilogramme [$۳.۲۵ and $۴.۸۵],” she said.
The vast majority of Gaza’s population is unemployed as a result of Israel’s war and its restrictions on allowing the territory to rebuild its infrastructure and economy.
The lack of food is starting to have an impact on Huda’s children. She says that they are struggling to concentrate, and often become dizzy and exhausted.
The health of her eldest daughter, Salma, has become so poor that she is receiving follow-up care at al-Rantisi Hospital in Gaza, where a doctor advised Huda to improve her daughter’s diet.
“We have been through so much hardship over the past three years,” she said. “I worry that my daughters will get sick if I cannot provide them with enough nutritious food.”
Fears of malnutrition
For Raeda Soboh, ۴۰, the struggle to feed her nine-member family means her children have gone months without some of the foods they need to stay healthy.
The displaced mother, originally from Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza but now living in Gaza City, said her family had long depended on community kitchens, known locally as tekkiya, even before the latest disruption to commercial supplies.
“When a kitchen has food, we eat from it,” she said.
Her children usually have tea for breakfast and a meal from a community kitchen for lunch. In the evening, they sometimes eat falafel, rice, lentils or pasta. But milk, meat, eggs and cheese have been absent from their diet for about eight months, she said. She last bought vegetables about a month ago.
“I don’t buy good-quality things. I buy only what we need and what we can manage to pay for,” Soboh said.
Her experience reflects wider concerns about children’s nutrition across Gaza.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than ۲,۸۰۰ children were admitted for malnutrition treatment in September, including more than ۳۶۰ with severe acute malnutrition.
About ۳,۰۰۰ children aged between six months and five years continued to be admitted for malnutrition treatment each month, OCHA said in a report published on October ۱۹.
A UNICEF-supported nutrition survey published in August also found that ۱۲.۲ percent of children under five in areas accessible to researchers were affected by stunting, a sign of impaired growth associated with prolonged nutritional and health problems.
Dr Mohamed B Alraee, a paediatrician and nutrition specialist in Gaza City, warned that prolonged restrictions on food supplies entering Gaza could lead to a further increase in child malnutrition, with children already missing the balanced meals they need to grow and recover.
Despite improvements after earlier periods of famine, hospitals continue to receive children with moderate and severe malnutrition, he said. Cases are not limited to children under five, with older children, including those aged five to ۱۷, also affected.
Alraee said some children were suffering from severe malnutrition accompanied by swelling in the legs, a condition associated with serious protein deficiency. He linked these cases to families surviving on a single meal dominated by carbohydrates without enough protein, because they cannot afford more nutritious food.
“Even when the crossings were open and food was entering, we were still seeing these cases. Children do not recover from malnutrition in a month or two. Some cases need three to six months to recover,” he said. “If the situation continues like this, we expect to see more cases of malnutrition.”
For Raeda, the consequences are already visible in her children’s daily lives. She said they had become weak and easily exhausted, leaving her worried about what months of inadequate food could mean for their health.
“They seem to spend the whole day sleeping. When I ask one of them to carry a water container, he might manage it once but cannot do it a second time,” she said. “I feel sorry for him and ask myself: is he getting proper nutrition? Is he eating like other children?”
The family has no reliable source of income, Raeda said. She also said the area where they live is not recognised as an official camp, leaving them without the same aid vouchers and hygiene supplies received by some other camps.
Like many parents in Gaza, she is left trying to meet their basic needs with whatever food she can find and afford.
“I hope someone will help us and stand with us in these difficult circumstances,” Raeda said. “I hope the war ends, the situation improves and the crossings open, so prices can come down.”
