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STORY: GAZA / FOOD INSECURITY
TRT: 05:52
SOURCE: UN NEWS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 05 FEBRUARY 2024, GAZA STRIP, PALESTINE
1. Various shots, bags containing different grains and animal feed
2. Various shots, mill workers sifting grains
3. Close up, mill worker mixing grains
4. Various shots, workers milling grains
5. Med shot, mill proprietor Mohamed Khalidy doing accounting
6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohamed Khalidy, Mill Proprietor:
“One of the most prominent obstacles is that there is no wheat to be ground now, and we are now on the verge of famine. If no wheat, aid, or flour is brought in, we are on the verge of famine.”
7. Med shot, Khalidy operating mill
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohamed Khalidy, Mill Proprietor:
“There is no wheat to grind, and we urge everyone to send aid, white flour, or wheat. In light of this crisis, there is crisis over crisis. We're working on diesel. If it is available in the black market, a 20-litre tank is sold for 600 shekels, which is approximately thirty shekels per litre. The international price is less than one dollar, but here in Gaza, the price of one litre is more than ten dollars. We are working on diesel, which is solar. If diesel and flour are not brought in, the mills will stop working, and there will be not an iota of flour for people to eat and overcome their hunger. As adults, we are aware of this famine, but children are unaware of this famine. Children are starving, they are squirming in hunger, and we are seeing cases only God knows about.”
9. Various shots, Abdul Majeed Salman picks up a bag of flour and walks into the streets
10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abdul Majeed Salman, Displaced Person, Jabalia Camp:
“I came to grind wheat and corn to bake because there is no flour. I mean, if I find flour today, it is expensive. The price of a supply bag is 700 shekels, which used to be thirty. We grind wheat, barley, and corn.”
11. Tracking shot, Salman walking through destroyed neighbourhood
12. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abdul Majeed Salman, Displaced Person, Jabalia Camp:
“We are forced to do this, as there is no alternative. This is food for birds and animals, may God bless you, but this is the only alternative. There is no other alternative.”
13. Tracking shot, Salman walking through destroyed neighbourhood
14. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abdul Majeed Salman, Displaced Person, Jabalia Camp:
“Everything is expensive, and there are no jobs and no way for one to work to earn money. Prices are skyrocketing. You find if you are going to buy a kilo of potatoes, it’s for 25 shekels. Tomatoes are the same. The price of a can of fava beans has risen from two shekels to 9 shekels.”
15. Tracking shot, Salman walking through destroyed neighbourhood
16. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abdul Majeed Salman, Displaced Person, Jabalia Camp:
“And you barely find it. Everything is so expensive, and you can’t even find it. You can't buy anything. If you have five people, you need at least fifty shekels.”
17. Tracking shot, Salman walking through destroyed neighbourhood
18. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abdul Majeed Salman, Displaced Person, Jabalia Camp:
“We started eating one meal a day because we don’t have enough to go on. Everything is so expensive.”
19. Tracking shot, Salman walking through destroyed neighbourhood
20. Wide shot, Salman walks into his home
21. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abdul Majeed Salman, Displaced Person, Jabalia Camp:
“This is corn with a handful of white flour. Why do we put corn? Because the price is lower. This is for animals. We ground it and put a handful of white flour. The price of a pound today is 110 shekels. We cannot provide them with white flour. Today we are grinding corn and barley. The skill is in stretching it. My wife sits for two hours trying to stretch it. Do you see how? This is how it is done.”
22. Various shots, Salman’s wife preparing bread
24. Various shots, Salman preparing fire
25. Various shots, Salman baking bread over fire
Due to a severe shortage of wheat, a mill in Gaza is using bird feed and other grains to make flour.
The owner of the mill, Mohamed Khalidy, started the project at a former clothes factory due to the need for people to grind grains such as wheat and corn, but soon, due to the shortages, people stared bringing animal feed to stretch the flour.
Khalidy said, “one of the most prominent obstacles is that there is no wheat to be ground now, and we are now on the verge of famine. If no wheat, aid, or flour is brought in, we are on the verge of famine.”
The price of fuel has been another obstacle in running the mill.
Khalidy said, “we're working on diesel. If it is available in the black market, a 20-litre tank is sold for 600 shekels, which is approximately thirty shekels per litre. The international price is less than one dollar, but here in Gaza, the price of one litre is more than ten dollars.”
He said, “if diesel and flour are not brought in, the mills will stop working, and there will be not an iota of flour for people to eat and overcome their hunger. As adults, we are aware of this famine, but children are unaware of this famine. Children are starving, they are squirming in hunger, and we are seeing cases only God knows about.”
Abdul Majeed Salman, a displaced person from Jabalia Camp brings whatever grains he can find to the mill for his wife to be able to bake bread.
Salman said, “I came to grind wheat and corn to bake because there is no flour. I mean, if I find flour today, it is expensive. The price of a supply bag is 700 shekels, which used to be thirty. We grind wheat, barley, and corn.”
He said, “we are forced to do this, as there is no alternative. This is food for birds and animals, may God bless you, but this is the only alternative. There is no other alternative.”
Salman continued, “everything is expensive, and there are no jobs and no way for one to work to earn money. Prices are skyrocketing. You find if you are going to buy a kilo of potatoes, it’s for 25 shekels. Tomatoes are the same. The price of a can of fava beans has risen from two shekels to 9 shekels.”
He said, “we started eating one meal a day because we don’t have enough to go on. Everything is so expensive.”
Four months since the escalation of hostilities, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is warning that in Gaza, severe food shortages, a breakdown in health services, and inadequate facilities for water, sanitation and hygiene are putting children under the age of five – as well as pregnant and breastfeeding women – at increased risk of malnutrition.
Last week, humanitarian partners distributed supplementary nutrition assistance to nearly 42,000 children under the age of five, as well as almost 4,000 pregnant and lactating women.
