Shop shelves fill up again in Gaza for the first time in six months
Chicken, fruit and vegetables stocked in the enclave’s markets as more aid enters through Rafah border
Markets in Gaza have begun restocking chickens, goats and sheep, at significantly higher prices, for the first time since the war began six months ago.
It comes as aid and basic goods flow at a faster rate through the enclave’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
The amount of aid now entering Gaza is disputed, with Israel and Washington saying volumes have risen in recent days, but UN agencies warning it is still far below required levels.
Tahani Abu Odeh, 35, was finally able to make her family fatteh, a Palestinian dish made of rice and chicken.
“For the first time in months, we feel that there is life in the northern Gaza Strip. We are finally finding things in the market like vegetables, fruits, frozen meat,” she said.
Like thousands of others, Ms Abu Odeh had been surviving mostly on canned rations over the past few months.
“It’s true that prices are still high and not everyone can afford to buy from the market, but having these goods available is better than their absence and scarcity,” she told The National.
On Sunday, Dr Samer Attar, of the Syrian American Medical Society, visited Gaza as part of a World Health Organisation delegation.
He said there was acute malnutrition in the north, mainly affecting children. Dr Attar said he was “surrounded” by hunger during his visit.
The UN and other organisations had been warning that malnutrition had doubled in only a month in the besieged enclave, as aid lorries were being turned back by Israeli troops and borders closed.
Ms Abu Odeh is from Beit Hanoun in Gaza’s north but was displaced to Jabilia refugee camp with her husband and four children after their home was struck by Israeli shelling.
She said her children all lost weight due to lack of food.
“For two months I couldn’t feed them anything good. We’ve overcome a lot of pain and hunger,” she added.
Fruit and vegetable seller Mahdi Ayyad said markets have started to reopen as goods that entered through the Rafah border in the south were now making their way to the north, where they are most needed. “Traders in the north of the Gaza Strip have managed to bring fruits such as apples, bananas, and vegetables such as tomatoes and cucumbers, as well as cheese and frozen chicken and meat,” Mr Ayyad told The National.
He said prices remained high but were slightly lower than when the war began.
A kilogram of meat now costs 60 shekels ($16), whereas before the war, fresh meat used to cost about 45 shekels ($12), he said.
Gazans say they are finding some goods that had disappeared from the markets since the war began.
Hani Al Zarad, 45, said the activity in the shops was pleasing for residents.
“We are starting to see bananas, apples, oranges, melons, tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, chicken, and many other things,” said the father of three, who lives in Al Duraj district, east of Gaza city. He is one of the few who were able to stay in his neighbourhood and did not flee to the south.
The return of basic goods in Gaza has given him a sense of optimism.
“I was one of those people who had lost hope that I would ever be able to eat these things again after being deprived of them. But thank God, he has relieved us,” he said.
But Mr Al Zarad said the closure of banks and shortages made it difficult to buy things.
Many Palestinians cannot withdraw money from ATMs, while money transfer agents and other ways of moving money have also been severely affected by the war.
Mr Al Zarad works in Ramallah and said he had not received his salary for months.
“I am unable to withdraw money from the bank due to the lack of cash and funds in Gaza. I hope that the coming days will be filled with goodness, and the prices will return to normal,” he said.
Many Palestinians cannot withdraw money from ATMs, while other ways of moving money have also been affected