A volunteer prepares bread for displaced Palestinians in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, Nov. 11, 2023. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)
GAZA, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- Each day at sunrise, Mohammed Tafish, a Palestinian man from the al-Zaitoun neighborhood in the east of Gaza City, joins dozens of his neighbors to cook free meals for displaced people in his area.
The 50-year-old father of six told Xinhua that, due to the shortage of cooking gas, he and his neighbors use about 20 large cookers heated on firewood stoves on the pavement to prepare various types of food.
"We have been used to cooking under the sounds of heavy explosions resulting from exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and the Palestinian militants," the middle-aged man said.
"We have been involved in this battle in which we have no fault. We face death, either from Israeli raids or from starvation amid this dire situation," Tafish complained.
"All the population, rich or poor, suffer the same. No one can buy food as the markets have run out of stock. Even those who have saved some food do not have gas to cook," he said.
This is why Tafish and his neighbors decided to do their part to cook meals to feed displaced people in a bid to support each other to survive the current crisis.
Every day, he provides food for about 4,000 families, each with an average of seven members.
Volunteers prepare bread for displaced Palestinians in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, Nov. 11, 2023. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)
"It is not only about cooking food for poor families but also about strengthening solidarity among the local people who live in the same crisis," he affirmed.
In the same spirit, Mohammed Abu Rujaila, along with his ten friends, cooked meals for more than 3,000 displaced families in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis.
"People fleeing death were unable to take anything with them. They have no money, no clothes, not even the minimum amount of food to sustain them for a few days," the 45-year-old father of seven told Xinhua.
He stressed that in Israel's indiscriminate attacks, "the Palestinian people, distinguished by their social solidarity, are quick to hold out a helping hand to each other."
Palestinian people are seen on their way from Gaza City toward the south, in central Gaza Strip, on Nov. 10, 2023. (Photo by Yasser Qudih/Xinhua)
In Rafah, 39-year-old Ahmed Al-Shaer gave a hand to 20 others to cook approximately 10,000 meals a day for the shelterless and poor households in the city to assist them in surviving the catastrophe.
Since Oct. 7, the bloody conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) has been raging on unabated in Gaza for more than a month, killing over 11,000 Palestinians in the coastal enclave and around 1,200 people in Israel.
Besides massive airstrikes and ground operations, Israel has also imposed punitive measures, including a siege on the enclave, with supplies of water, electricity, fuel, and other necessities being cut off.
Gaza residents, including Tafish, Abu Rujaila, and Al-Shaer, all depend on the funds provided by local businessmen, displaced people who have money but cannot buy food, and donors from outside Gaza.
However, despite the solidarity among locals, the humanitarian crisis shrouding the enclave loomed larger as the conflict continued unabated. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said last week that although some life-saving aid is getting into Gaza from Egypt through the Rafah crossing, this "trickle of assistance does not meet the ocean of need."
Palestinians queue to receive food at a makeshift charity kitchen in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, Nov. 9, 2023. (Photo by Khaled Omar/Xinhua)■
