Gaza – He only found Abu Shaker Cook and distribute food for free To help displaced people from the northern Gaza Strip, they took refuge in Nasser Governmental Hospital in the city of Khan Yunis, and are living in harsh humanitarian conditions, as a result of the ongoing Israeli occupation aggression since the 7th of last month.
Muhammad Suhoud, known as “Abi Shaker,” was saddened by the condition of the displaced people in this hospital in the southern Gaza Strip. He and volunteers from his friends launched a charitable initiative based on cooking food over a wood fire, in light of a severe cooking gas crisis.
Abu Shaker told Al Jazeera Net about the displaced people that they are “dear guests, after the occupation forced them to abandon their homes, and they left behind their money and possessions. The majority of them fled with the clothes they were wearing, and they face harsh conditions due to the scarcity of materials and goods and a crazy rise in prices.”
The Abu Shaker Initiative, funded by philanthropists, has been providing food for 11 days to about 100 families consisting of 400 to 500 individuals, in the courtyards and facilities of Nasser Hospital, in addition to displaced people residing in schools surrounding the hospital.
What happened with Abu Shaker today indicates precise details of the suffering that is afflicting the residents of Gaza. He was forced to change the type of food he intended to prepare for the displaced, after he was unable to provide table salt. He says, “We face great difficulties and challenges in providing materials and cooking requirements due to their scarcity and the great increase.” at available prices.
Solidarity
Gazans are being struck by a severe and complex crisis, resulting from the scarcity of liquidity and the tremendous rise in prices that have severely affected every detail of daily life, as a result of the Israeli war that stopped the wheel of the economy and caused almost complete “paralysis” in the small coastal strip, the majority of whose population (2.2 million people) suffers from… Huge rates of poverty and unemployment.
In contrast to the state of greed that has afflicted those who Gazans describe as “merchants of blood and war,” with the absence of official control over the movement of trade and markets, charitable and voluntary initiatives, such as that of Abu Shaker and his companions, represent a bright side, but they cannot end the suffering of the largest population bloc that is currently congregating in Cities in the south of the Gaza Strip, as a result of forced displacement waves from the north.
International organizations estimate that the war caused the displacement of 80% of the Gaza Strip’s population, estimated at about 1.6 million people, more than a million of whom reside in shelters affiliated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), government schools and public facilities.
In the Shaboura camp in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, Muhammad Adwan takes the initiative to distribute a thousand liters of drinking water to his neighbors and the needy in his area. He tells Al Jazeera Net that he buys a tank with a capacity of two thousand liters from a water desalination plant, which he arrives by transport vehicle, and takes a thousand liters from it for himself, his brothers, and their families in The residential building, and the other half is distributed free of charge.
In light of a severe water crisis, its prices rose four times what they were before the Israeli aggression. Muhammad Adwan says that the price of a thousand liters of drinking water ranged between 20 to 25 shekels, while it rose during the war to reach 100 shekels (about 30 dollars).
Adwan partners with his brothers in providing water to their family of about 30 individuals, and earns a wage by distributing the rest of the quantity, saying, “We must feel each other to overcome the crisis and not be defeated by the occupation and the greed of merchants.”
Adwan works as a government employee, and like other employees, he has not received his salary for two months, which is one of the reasons for the scarcity of liquidity identified by the head of the Economics Department at An-Najah National University, Dr. Nael Mousa.
Causes of the crisis
Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Dr. Musa explained that liquidity is an important part in determining prices, and what deepens the crisis even more in Gaza is the lack of availability of goods, as a result of the war and the applied blockade, where many types of goods and goods are much less than required, which has a sharp impact on the lives of citizens. , especially the simple ones, who do not have money, while the prices of available goods are very high.
The economic academic identifies the reasons for the scarcity of liquidity in Gaza as the cessation of financial sources as a result of the war and the siege, as thousands of workers stopped working, the salaries of employees in the public and private sectors were delayed, foreign trade and export movement stopped, banks stopped working, and foreign aid declined.
In addition to these reasons – Musa says – there is another reason related to the air raids on homes and their destruction above the heads of their residents, with the money they contain that was lost under the rubble, and thus the market lost the liquidity available in people’s hands.
This reason refers to a common habit among a large segment of people in Gaza, who prefer to keep their money in their homes and in their own way, and not deposit it in banks.
Moussa said that the war left its devastating effects on various aspects of life, including the financial and economic sector, and because of it, foreign financial transfers, which were an important source of cash liquidity, stopped. He explained that the scarcity of liquidity leads to a decline in prices, but in the case of Gaza the matter is different, as it is accompanied by With a scarcity of goods, this led to a huge rise in prices, putting more pressure on the daily life of citizens.
Exceptional tips
In this context, the economic academic advises Gazans to be patient and prioritize daily needs, adding, “But this does not absolve war merchants from responsibility and the necessity of prosecuting them. Gaza is in a state of war, and if there is no moral dimension on all sides, the greatest harm will befall the poor, and they will become poorer.” And new poverty segments will be added to them.”
On the other hand, Umm Muhammad – a widow who supports a family of six people – works on the principle of setting priorities and is forced to do so, according to what the daily changing prices impose, adding, “I buy what suits me at a price that suits me, and in a small quantity as much as the daily need.”
Umm Muhammad, who receives aid provided by Social Affairs, has been boycotting many goods and foodstuffs since the second week of the war, and gave an example of a plate of chicken eggs (30 eggs), whose price rose from 18 shekels to 40 shekels (about 11 dollars).
The prices of all different goods and needs in markets and shops are constantly changing, and the aid received through the Rafah land crossing under the temporary truce agreement has not succeeded in putting an end to the deterioration of the living and humanitarian conditions of Gazans.
The local authorities in Gaza say that this aid is very scarce, and the pace of its flow is slow, and according to the director of the “Governmental Media Office,” Ismail Al-Thawabta, to Al-Jazeera Net, the citizen in Gaza has not felt an impact of this aid on his life.
Since the truce agreement entered into force last Friday morning, about 200 trucks have come through the Rafah crossing daily, mostly canned food, drinking water bottles, and medical consumables, in addition to 4 trucks (84 tons of cooking gas), and quantities of fuel for UNRWA.
Since the beginning of the aggression, Israel has closed the only commercial crossing at Kerem Shalom. Before the outbreak of the war, about 500 trucks with various needs passed through it, in addition to quantities sufficient for the residents of Gaza’s daily consumption of fuel and cooking gas.
