Gaza mothers endure endless lines as famine fears persist
Niyaha al-Masri, a 35-year-old displaced Palestinian woman from Beit Hanoon, waiting to receive food for her family at a charity kitchen in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. [Bashar Taleb/AP Photo]
Published On 12 Oct 2026

Every morning, Palestinian mother Niyaha al‑Masri leaves her tent in Khan Younis and joins a long line outside a community kitchen, hoping that hours of waiting will end with a single meal for her family of 10.

More than a year after a “ceasefire” between Hamas and Israel was supposed to open the way for food into the devastated enclave, hunger still defines daily life for many Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Without the kitchen run by humanitarian groups, al-Masri says, her family will have “nothing at all”. On a recent day, after six hours in the queue, she returned in the afternoon carrying four containers of rice, lentils and a small portion of chicken – the only meal the family would have that day.

Gaza mothers endure endless lines as famine fears persist
Niyaha al-Masri spends six hours or more in a queue at a community kitchen in the hope of getting some food for her family. [Bashar Taleb/AFP]
Gaza mothers endure endless lines as famine fears persist
Her husband, wounded in both legs in an air strike, “cannot go and fight with the others” for food, she says. What little flour they have is carefully rationed. Her eight children, aged three to 14, “dream of eating fruit”, but the family cannot afford any. [Bashar Taleb/AFP]
Gaza mothers endure endless lines as famine fears persist
In August 2025, the United Nations‑backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) declared a state of famine in Gaza – an assessment Israel denounced as a lie. By December, the UN had lifted the declaration, saying the "ceasefire" had allowed in enough aid over two months to ease the worst conditions. [Bashar Taleb/AFP]
Gaza mothers endure endless lines as famine fears persist
“The food security situation is still extremely serious,” said Shaun Hughes of the WFP, noting that 1.4 million of Gaza’s 2.1 million people suffer from acute food shortages, with 200,000 “just one step below famine”. [Bashar Taleb/AFP]
Gaza mothers endure endless lines as famine fears persist
Beyond sheer quantity, lack of nutritional diversity is driving a quiet health crisis. “You cannot survive on dry goods and wheat flour and bread alone,” Hughes said, stressing the need for protein, fresh vegetables and fruit, especially for children and pregnant or breastfeeding women. [Bashar Taleb/AFP]
Gaza mothers endure endless lines as famine fears persist
In the tent camps of Khan Younis, a hot meal has become a luxury, with mothers like Niyaha al‑Masri waiting in queues to bring home a single pot of rice and lentils to feed 10 hungry mouths. [Bashar Taleb/AFP]
Gaza mothers endure endless lines as famine fears persist
Al-Masri shares a meal provided by a charity kitchen with her children. [Bashar Taleb/AFP]
Gaza mothers endure endless lines as famine fears persist
The “ceasefire” promised that aid trucks would pour into Gaza, but in the alleyways of the south, some children still go to sleep on empty stomachs. [Bashar Taleb/AFP]
Gaza mothers endure endless lines as famine fears persist
Parents say their children no longer ask for toys or sweets; they dream of apples and oranges, of the simple taste of fresh fruit that has vanished from their lives since the genocidal war began in October 2023. [Bashar Taleb/AFP]
Gaza mothers endure endless lines as famine fears persist
Al-Masri doing the dishes at the makeshift shelter where she lives with her family in Khan Younis. [Bashar Taleb/AFP]
Gaza mothers endure endless lines as famine fears persist
Back in the tent camp, al-Masri’s children spend their days collecting nylon, cardboard and foam to patch the family’s makeshift shelter. She calls it “shameful” that they must live this way. “I swear to God, this isn’t normal,” she said before heading out again to stand in line for food. [Bashar Taleb/AFP]