‘Skeletons marching to death’, say starving Gazans

Famished Palestinians speak of the hunger driving them to deadly aid points. By Nedal Hamdouna in Gaza and Bel Trew

- By Nedal Hamdouna in Gaza and Bel Trew

“We were just skeletons, walking.” This is how Younis, 32, a father of four, described the death march to the Gaza aid convoy on Sunday when Israeli forces opened fire.

Shortly after the food trucks arrived, a shell blew up a small crowd sending people flying through the air to the side of him.

Then a bullet ripped through the air by his head.

“The gunfire was so intense that it was like they were aiming to drink our blood,” he told The Independent, his voice still shaking.

“I feel like we've been put on a chicken farm and starved and killed.”

Trapped under a mound of people - some alive, some injured, some dead - he managed to crawl free with a single kilo of flour, which later, in the scrum to safety, he had to drop.

“Since the morning, my children had woken me up crying ‘Daddy I want to eat’. These words burned my blood and made me go to danger.”

The UN’s global hunger monitor has repeatedly warned that nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million population are teetering on the edge of famine.

Accusing Hamas of stealing supplies to fuel its war, Israel has imposed sieges on Gaza, either fully restricting or significantly restricting aid into the tiny 25-mile long strip, as well as corralling people into areas. These are policies that legal experts have told The Independent would amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity and even “genocide in action” - something Israel denies.

On Sunday, the World Food Programme (WFP) said a rare convoy of 25 trucks carrying vital food assistance had been permitted to cross into northern Gaza. It was met with large crowds of civilians anxiously waiting to access desperately needed food supplies - among them, Younis.