I Cry at Night When Baby Cries — Story of a Starving Gaza Family

Mrs. Mervat Hijazi and her nine children did not eat at all on May 22, apart from her underweight baby who had a sachet of peanut paste.

- 

CAIRO/GAZA CITY — Mrs. Mervat Hijazi and her nine children did not eat at all on May 22, apart from her underweight baby who had a sachet of peanut paste.

"I'm so ashamed of myself for not being able to feed my children," Mrs. Hijazi told Reuters from their tent pitched amid the rubble of Gaza City.

"I cry at night when my baby cries and her stomach aches from hunger."

Six-year-old Zaha could not sleep because of Israel's bombardment.

"She wakes up terrified, shaking, and then remembers she didn't eat and is hungry. I put her back to sleep, promising her food in the morning. Of course I lie," said Mrs. Hijazi.

The 38-year-old mother recounted a terrible week.

On May 18, her family was given about half a kilogram of cooked lentils from a community kitchen run by a charity, half the amount she would normally use for a single meal.

On May 19, a local aid group was distributing some vegetables in the camp, but there was not enough to go around and Mrs. Hijazi's family did not get any.

Her 14-year-old daughter Menna went to the community kitchen and came back with a meager amount of cooked potato.

Everyone was hungry, so they filled up by drinking water.

On May 20, the family received about half a kilogram of cooked pasta from the kitchen. One daughter was also given some falafel by an uncle who lived nearby.

On May 21, it was a good day, relatively. Mrs. Hijazi's family received a bowl of rice with lentils at the community kitchen. It was not nearly enough, but Menna went back and pleaded with them and they eventually gave her two other small dishes.

"She is tough and keeps crying at them until they give it to her," said Mrs. Hijazi.