Food Aid and Diet

Nearly every family in the Gaza Strip has someone standing in line to fetch its food rations. Around the food distribution centers, donkey carts loiter around, for hire to haul home the heavy sacks marked with the names of donors: Japan, the European Union, USAID. Market tents spring up where many aid recipients sell part of their dry rations for cash to buy meat and vegetables.

In recent years, about 74 percent of the Gazan population has become food insecure or dependent on rations due to the destruction of Gaza’s productive infrastructure and the closure of its borders. This means that more than a million people now rely on donor agencies for the bulk of their daily calories. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and the World Food Program (WFP) provide most of the staples: flour, sugar, salt, oil. What they provide is insufficient for health—lacking any fresh fruit, vegetables, or fresh meat—but is indispensable for survival.