Ahmed Dremly, middleeasteye.net
Ola Shamali and her family of nine have begun cutting back on food, bracing for hunger after the World Food Programme (WFP) announced a one-third reduction in food assistance to Gaza.
Funding shortages will leave half a million people without access to critical aid, the UN agency said earlier this week.
The announcement has sent fear throughout Gaza of a return to a severe hunger crisis in the strip, a year after Israel’s siege led to famine.
“It means we are going to live on the edge of famine,” said the Palestinian mother.
“My father is still suffering from the deteriorating health caused by last year’s famine.”
Her 78-year-old father, Mohammed Shamali, has bladder cancer, high blood pressure and diabetes. He needs a stable, nutritious diet, but the family can barely afford to provide it.
His diet should include protein- and fibre-rich foods such as fruit, vegetables, fish, nuts and meat. Until now, Ola has sold part of the family’s WFP food assistance to buy some of these items for him.
Now, she fears the reduced aid will leave the family with too little food, and no means of securing the nutrition her father needs.
“We don’t have money to buy food,” she told Middle East Eye. “We completely depend on the charity distribution of food. If it stops, we will die of hunger.”