Diaries of a Gaza family: waking up hungry and sleeping on broken hope
Every morning, Abir and Fadi Sobeh wake up in their tent in Gaza with the same question: how will they find food for themselves and their six young children?
Faced with this situation, the couple, interviewed by the Associated Press agency, have three options:
- Perhaps there is a charity kitchen open, and they might get a pot of boiled lentils.
- Or they try to push through crowds to get some flour from a passing aid truck.
- The last resort is begging.
If all these attempts fail, they will not all eat.
The situation of the Sobeh family, who live in a refugee camp by the sea west of Gaza City after repeated displacements, reflects that of families throughout the Gaza Strip torn by war since October 7, 2025.
Humanitarian workers say hunger has increased during the past 22 months of war due to restrictions on aid.
Food experts warned earlier this week that “the worst famine scenario is what is currently happening in Gaza.”
Israel imposed a total blockade on food and other supplies for two and a half months starting in March. It said its goal was to increase pressure on Hamas to release dozens of hostages held since the October 7 attack.
Although aid flow resumed in May, the amounts represent only a tiny fraction of what relief organizations say is needed.
The collapse of law and order has also made safe food delivery nearly impossible. Much of the aid that arrives is stored or sold in markets at high prices.
Here are the main aspects of the Sobeh family’s life as reported by the Associated Press.
Morning bath with seawater
The family wakes up in their tent, which Fadi Sobeh, a 30-year-old street vendor, says is very hot in summer.
With fresh water scarce, his wife Abir, 29, fetches water from the sea.
One by one, the children stand in a metal basin and rub themselves while their mother pours salty water on their heads. Hala, nine months old, cries painfully in her eyes. The other children are more stoic.
Then Abir straightens the bedding and sweeps dust and sand from the tent floor. When no food remains from the previous day, she goes out to beg for something for her family’s breakfast. Sometimes neighbors or passersby give her lentils; sometimes she gets nothing.
She gives Hala water from a baby bottle. When lucky, she grinds lentils into powder to mix with water.
She said, “Today feels like a hundred days because of the heat, hunger, and suffering.”
Trip to the soup kitchen
Fadi goes to the nearby soup kitchen. Sometimes one of the children accompanies him, but food is rarely available there.
The kitchen opens about once a week and never suffices for the crowds.
According to Fadi, he often waits all day and returns home empty-handed. “The children sleep hungry without food.”
Fadi used to go to an area in northern Gaza where Israeli aid trucks arrive. There, huge crowds gather to loot the food on the trucks.
Israeli forces often fire nearby, witnesses say. Israel says it fires warning shots only, and others in the crowd often carry knives or guns to steal the boxes.
Fadi was shot in the leg last month. It weakened him so much he can no longer run after trucks, so now he tries to get to the soup kitchens.
Journey to fetch potable water
Meanwhile, Abir goes out with her three eldest children — Yousef (10), Mohammed (9), and Malak (7) — carrying plastic containers to fill with fresh water from a truck that comes from a central desalination station in Gaza.
The children struggle with the weight of the water containers: Yousef carries one on his back, Mohammed drags his half-empty container, bending his small body to avoid the street dust.
Fighting for aid
Abir sometimes goes alone or with Yousef to the aid distribution center in Zeekim, northern Gaza. Sometimes she obtains food, but often she returns empty-handed.
If unsuccessful, she appeals to the kindness of those who succeeded. She tells them, “You survived death by God’s grace, please give me something.”
Many respond to her pleas, and she gets a small bag of flour to bake bread for the children.
She and her son have become familiar faces. Yousef Abu Saleh, a man who regularly waits by the trucks, says he often sees Abir struggling for food, so he shares with her. “They are poor, her husband is sick. We are all hungry and need food.”
During the hottest hours, the six children stay in or near the tent. The parents prefer they sleep during the heat — this prevents them from running, exhausting their energy, and feeling hunger and thirst.
Searching for food and begging in the afternoon
When the heat subsides, the children go out. Sometimes Abir sends them to beg for food from neighbors. Otherwise, they roam Gaza’s destroyed streets, searching among rubble and trash for anything to light the family’s empty stove.
They have become skilled at identifying what might burn, such as scraps of paper, wood, bottles, plastic bags, an old shoe, or anything that suffices.
One day, a child found a pot in a trash bin — which Abir now uses for cooking.
The family has been displaced many times, and little remains of their belongings. Abir says, “I have to manage. What else can I do? We are eight people.”
Lentil stew for dinner if luck permits
After a day searching for life essentials — food, water, and cooking fuel — sometimes the family has enough for Abir to prepare a meal, usually a light lentil soup.
But often there is nothing, and they all sleep hungry.
Abir has grown weak and often feels dizzy when searching for food or water. “I am tired. I can’t do it anymore. If the war continues, I think about suicide. I have no strength or means left.”
