'There is not a crumb left': Gaza fears new military push as aid blockade bites

A dearth of food has led to intense civilian suffering, as a US-led scheme manoeuvres to replace United Nations aid efforts

- Ruth Michaelson

At the children's ward in the Patient's Friends Benevolent Society (PFBS) hospital in Gaza City, hungry mothers who come to give birth are given a single meal of rice. In local markets across Gaza, supplies of canned food, as well as bags of rice and lentils, have started to disappear completely.

The UN, which once ran bakeries, has closed them all after their stocks of flour and fuel ran out. Even the doctors and humanitarians say they are barely able to feed themselves.

A total blockade on Gaza imposed by Israeli forces in early March is pushing more than 2 million people to the brink of survival. “Nothing has entered, no food, no relief supplies, no fuel, no commercial goods. Nothing,” said Jonathan Whittall of the UN’s humanitarian affairs office last month.

His colleague Olga Cherevko described “apocalyptic” scenes among the total destruction of the urban landscape. Cherevko said she had seen children and the elderly desperately rummaging through piles of rubbish to find food. Last week she visited a UN hub that two months ago was filled with supplies; now “there is not one crumb left in any of the warehouses, yards or stores,” she told The Observer.