Fares Hassouna, 32, Palestinian father of six:
“What made me go out (to try and get aid) is the food shortage. Hunger is killing us — my children have lost a lot of weight. God is sufficient for us, and He is the best disposer of our affairs. It’s been more than 15 days that I’ve come and found nothing. Even when aid was available, I got nothing. I’m not eating. If I don’t go out like this (to get food aid), even if it means dying, I won’t survive. God is sufficient for us, and He is the best disposer of our affairs. It’s a bite (of food) dipped in blood.”
Fares Hassouna, 32, Palestinian father of six:
“It is a tragedy. People go out without breakfast just to get flour. I swear to God, I didn’t even drink a drop of water — I went out with a dry throat. There is nothing. I just want flour. We don’t want negotiations, just let food and water through. At least when I die, there will be blood left in my body to drip.”
Fares Hassouna, 32, Palestinian father of six:
"From 5 am I am dreaming, I am dreaming of flour, it has become a nightmare in my life."
Fares Hassouna, 32, Palestinian father of six:
"I have walked until now around three to four kilometres, as much as you can imagine the suffering is hard, it is hard and not normal. I went out not knowing if I am coming back, if I will bring flour or not, I went out and entrusted God with my affairs and praying for God, only for my kids."
Fares Hassouna, 32, Palestinian father of six:
"For the children when I entered (to the tent) with this bag as if I entered with a calf, I swear to God as if I entered with a calf. It doesn't matter if it's plain (bread) the most important thing is that flour is now available. Now at least one can sleep relaxed. Flour has become a nightmare for me, until when? You have left no stone or human, what do you want?."
Fares Hassouna, 32, Palestinian father of six:
"It has been more than 40 days that I don't have any flour, I go out everyday but God doesn't grant me (flour). Today thanks to God I went out at 5:30 am without breakfast or water, I went out putting my soul in my hand (meaning taking a risk), not knowing if I would come back to my children, I said goodbye to the people in my house because I didn't know if I would come back. I went to bring them food, the children wake up from sleep, they don't even tell me good morning, they tell me they want bread, and I cannot provide him with any."
Fares Hassouna, a father of six, trudged through the dusty streets of northern Gaza on Sunday (July 27), carrying a heavy bag of flour on his shoulders—one of the scarce aid deliveries to enter the enclave in recent days.
Wearing torn sandals, Hassouna described how food shortages have left his family hungry.
“Hunger has killed us, my children have lost a lot of weight. It has been more than 15 days that I come and find nothing,” he said, after walking several kilometres to reach the distribution point.
Aid bags that entered Gaza through Israel were quickly snatched up by residents. Many, like Hassouna, set out before dawn, braving the uncertainty of whether they would return home with food.
“I went out not knowing if I am coming back, if I will bring flour or not. I went out and entrusted God with my affairs,” he said.
Back at his tent in Gaza City, Hassouna’s family cheered as he returned with the flour. Laying his head on the bag, he compared its arrival to bringing home a calf. “It doesn’t matter if it’s plain bread, the most important thing is that flour is now available. Now at least one can sleep relaxed,” he said.
Israel said on Sunday (July 27) it would halt military operations for 10 hours a day in parts of Gaza and allow new aid corridors as Jordan and the United Arab Emirates airdropped aid to the enclave, where images of starving Palestinians have alarmed the world.
Israel has been facing growing international criticism, which the government rejects, over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and indirect ceasefire talks in Doha between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have broken off with no deal in sight.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters stormed southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, Israel's offensive has killed nearly 60,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, reduced much of the enclave to ruins and displaced nearly the entire population.
(Production: Ebrahim Hajjaj, Fadi Shana, Imad Creidi)