'Either give me the bag of flour or we will kill you'

As Palestinians in the north of Gaza face forced evacuation under the military escalation planned by Israel, locals tell of the brutal fight for food

- Nedal Hamdouna and Bel Trew

To get a bag of flour for his starving three children, Nedal AbuSharbi arms himself with a knife to protect against thieves and prepares to be shot by the Israeli military. There is so little food in Gaza - in the grip of famine due to a punishing Israeli blockade and the war - that lawlessness has taken over around the land crossings where the few aid trucks are able to get in.

Now, the desperation is more acute with news that, rather than returning to the negotiating table, Israel is to widen its already devastating offensive and take full military control of the besieged strip, starting with the remains of Gaza City, where Nedal is sheltering with his family.

The father of three, whose youngest is just five months old, describes desperate, hungry crowds surging toward and attacking the few aid convoys that enter via the northern Zikim crossing. Even journalists are being targeted.

He says the Israeli army opens fire “under the pretext of combing the area or shooting to prevent people from gathering outside the buffer zone”. The United Nations says more than 1,000 people have been killed trying to receive aid in the enclave in just a few months - most of them shot by Israeli forces operating nearby.

Even if you can avoid that, the last time he went, he had to let three trucks go by before he was able to, in the suffocating scrum, grab a single bag of flour. “My joy was indescribable and I was overwhelmed,” he says, with desperation in his voice. “But on the way home, three young men I’d never seen before came up to me with large knives - and one man with a gun. They threatened me: either give them the bag of flour, or they would kill me. I left the bag on the ground. I lost hope and fainted because of what had happened.”

The situation is so dire, he says they call aid convoys “death traps” and the new Israeli security cabinet plans a “deadly game”.