"This is the wonderful thing we call 'bread'", said the post on social media, showing a miserable crust: "a mixture of feed for rabbits, donkeys and pigeons. There is nothing good about it except that it fills our stomachs. It is impossible to fill it with other foods, or even break it except by biting down hard with one's teeth."¹

That was in February. Three months later, the situation in Gaza is much, much worse. According to Cindy McCain, the head of the UN World Food Programme: "There is famine - full-blown famine in the north - and it's moving its way south."

Even before the Hamas attack of 7 October, which started the current war, people in Gaza were heavily dependent on food aid. By December, the UN says, almost every family was skipping meals every day. By January, aid agencies were managing to deliver only 25-30% of the food needed.²

In markets, prices rocketed. A kilogram of flour that cost 30p before the war was selling for as much as £10.

At that point Gaza's most southerly city, Rafah, was still relatively well supplied. But since Israeli troops began to move in, that has changed.

"There's always something missing in the tent", says refugee Ahmed Abu al-Kas. "If we have bread, we don't have water. If we have firewood, we don't have some basic vegetables."³

According to the head of Refugees International, Jeremy Konyndyk, famine does not usually threaten everyone in the place affected. But in Gaza, "it is really the entirety of the population, not just a subset".

Aid workers blame Israel for preventing the necessary supplies from getting through. Last week over 2,000 lorries were waiting to cross from Egypt.⁴

The lorries are kept at checkpoints for hours and are searched for anything that might be useful to Hamas; they can be sent back if even one item is found. Water purification tablets and tent poles have been among the things confiscated.

Egypt has also been criticised for failing to create an efficient supply channel. The US has tried to help by building a temporary pier to bring supplies in by sea, but this has been damaged by stormy weather and will take at least a week to repair.

Even if unrestricted supplies began to arrive tomorrow, experts warn that many people would die of malnutritionPoor nutrition - caused by not having enough to eat or not having the right foods. . "It's not like people are starving and they eat a good, high-calorie meal and then they're fine", says an OxfamAn international charity, originally British, that works to alleviate global poverty. spokesman. "You need vitamins, you need supplements, you need a doctor, you need a health care system that works."

Joe Biden has said that the US will withhold weapons from Israel if it mounts a large-scale attack on Rafah which puts refugees at risk. But the White House insists that has not happened yet, despite an air strike on Sunday that killed at least 45 people.  

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for the State of Palestine, disagrees. "We hold the US administration fully responsible for the situation in Rafah and across Gaza," he says.⁵

Is America responsible?

Yes: It is the one country that can make a real difference, because Israel depends so heavily on it. If Biden said he was going to withdraw all support, Israel would have to allow proper supplies through.

No: Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, believes that refusing to listen to Biden makes him look like a strong leader. Nothing will stop him deliberately making life difficult for people in Gaza.

Or... The people ultimately responsible are Hamas. They launched a barbaric attack on Israel in order to provoke a brutal response and gain sympathy for their cause - and their plan has worked perfectly.

Malnutrition - Poor nutrition - caused by not having enough to eat or not having the right foods.

Oxfam - An international charity, originally British, that works to alleviate global poverty.