'Starvation hits mentally and physically. $2,000 a month won't even buy bread'

Those who can afford food in Gaza – even at dizzying prices - eat just one small meal a day. Others have to go without, reports Ruth Michaelson

- Ruth Michaelson

For Hassan, surviving famine in Gaza is about the calculations he faces daily starting with how to precisely split a single piece of bread so that each quarter is a meal.

He walks three miles every day to look for vegetables, and spends hours getting firewood to cook what little food he can find.

Last week he spent four days looking in vain for flour, rice or pasta - instead he saw people fainting on the streets from lack of food. After finding three cans of beans, he worried for hours about the best way to portion them up between a family of five, even consulting ChatGPT for strategies to ration out the calories.

Hassan has lost more than 38kg (six stone) since March, when Israel began a full blockade of Gaza and food rapidly became scarce.

"We have to calculate everything to ensure our survival," he said. "This kind of starvation - it’s hitting us mentally, not just physically. That's the struggle."

Despite this, Hassan is considered one of the lucky ones. His work with the United Nations agency for refugees, Unrwa, means he has a steady income. But even this is no longer enough to feed his family.