(1/2) A friend of mine who's been supporting people in #Gaza has been receiving updates from someone living through the genocide. What they’re sharing completely shreds the sanitized, feel-good bullshit narrative some NGOs are pushing. This is what’s really happening with food distribution
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Dear Friends,I have repeatedly asked you to donate to survival campaigns, and while I will continue to do that for as long as necessary, today I am asking you to read a long and important message.My friend whose words I am sharing with you today prefers to remain anonymous because Palestinians in Gaza who have spoken out, such as my friend’s beloved teacher and hundreds of journalists, have been assassinated (by not only Israel, but the US, Canada, and every other nation providing weapons, special forces, and cover for the ongoing genocide). My friend feels great responsibility for all Palestinians and also for family members, which is why my friend does not publish any writings publicly.First I will begin with a message from May 22, 2025:It is deeply troubling to see some international NGOs celebrating their operations in Gaza while the reality on the ground continues to be one of immense suffering and humiliation.Although these NGOs have announced the delivery of flour and the resumption of services at a few supported bakeries, the lived experience of ordinary Gazans paints a far grimmer picture. Outside these bakeries, long queues of people—mainly women, including the elderly—wait in desperation, pleading for just one loaf of bread. Meanwhile, trucks are seen loading bread in full view of those left hungry and empty-handed. When individuals inquire about how they too can receive this bread, they are told it is only available through community kitchens. This modality of flour distribution is fundamentally flawed and has proven ineffective for over 19 months. Despite knowing and learning from experience what works best, the current system continues to fail the people of Gaza. During this prolonged period, many have tragically lost their lives or suffered severe harm—some even suffocated while waiting in overcrowded queues at bakeries simply to obtain bread. After nearly two years of suffering, it is clear that the only dignified and practical solution is to distribute flour directly to households or, at the very least, to establish more than 200 accessible distribution points across the Gaza Strip, ensuring that people can easily access this essential resource.Moreover, it is critical to highlight that the northern Gaza Strip has yet to receive any flour supplies, as all aid continues to enter exclusively through the Karm Shalom crossing in the south. The aid allowed in is also extremely limited, restricted only to flour, oil, and sugar necessary for bread-making, while the vast majority of essential goods remain barred entry.We call on all actors to refrain from participating in systems that reinforce control, empower vendors, or inadvertently serve the interests of the occupation. Humanitarian aid must be a vehicle for justice and dignity—not a tool of dependency and humiliation.Gaza’s people need respect, not charity that comes at the cost of their humanity.Last night (May 24) I talked with my friend at 11:30 pm Gaza time. My friend described more than 500 people gathered and waiting outside a nearby bakery. I could hear the crowds. They had been there since the morning. The bakery was making bread in the middle of the night, and extremely hungry people were waiting in the hopes of getting a single small pita. When you hear Palestinians speak of a “loaf of bread” these days, what they mean is a single hand-sized pita. My friend pointed out that with so many people gathered together in one place, it would be a huge massacre if the bakery was targeted at that time. My friend also described many armed people guarding the bakery. I could hear gunfire close by while my friend spoke. My friend said, “In the world there are more than ten people with guns to protect presidents; in Gaza there are more than ten people with guns to protect the bread.”A family member of my friend went to the bakery to try and get some bread, but returned with nothing because the situation was so dangerous. So my friend’s family had none.There is, as is always the case with colonial campaigns of genocide, a concerted effort to destroy the fabric of community, to sever relations and turn Palestinians against one another. This is happening in a variety of ways, including in the physical separation of people in Gaza from one another through not only displacements but also through the separation of north from south. My friend says that before 19 months ago, it wasn’t common to refer to the north and south of Gaza as separate. There is now a check point separating the north and south. This separation is manipulated by the Occupation to manufacture resentments. The assaults are cognitive and emotional too, designed to break bonds.People in the north, for example, were given the impression that people in the south had bread. In reality, this was not true. A small amount of flour entered, but it has been controlled and withheld. Staged photographs are used to pacify people outside Gaza and give us the impression conditions are improving. These staged photographs also function to torture Palestinians in other parts of Gaza, making them feel more acutely the deprivation along with resentment of those they think have it easier.For those in the south, it is very painful to hear from friends in the north “at least you have flour” when that is not the case. The stage 5 famine conditions are present throughout Gaza, but the Occupation benefits from every way that Palestinians can be made to resent one another.My friend says, “they are trying to find all the possible ways to make our life harder.” The Occupation controls the southern crossing into Gaza where trucks can enter, and then there is another Occupation controlled crossing between the north and south of Gaza. The Occupation controls which roads people can move on (such as when forcibly displaced) - only by foot or carts in some cases. My friend wondered in exasperation that if Palestinians can’t understand the experiences of other Palestinians in different parts of Gaza, how will the rest of the world.My friend says, “the Israeli Occupation is imposing a specific modality of bread distribution” and that the only food allowed in is flour, oil, and sugar. My friend adds that “the price of 1 kg of sugar if you are lucky enough to find it is more than $60 [USD]. So it’s a luxury. We are not looking for sugar now. It’s all about flour now.” My friend says all that is entering is flour and some nutritional supplements for children, and obviously not enough to prevent starvation.There are many examples of Palestinians in Gaza coordinating food distribution successfully on their own. Now people who successfully did so in the past for their neighborhoods have been attacked as the Occupation is paving the way for the planned distribution scheme of the US and Israeli backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.My friend was greatly relieved that this plan for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s food-only aid program was postponed, as it would be even more catastrophic for multiple reasons. Considering Palestinians in Gaza are already in Phase 5 of famine, “more catastrophic” is unfathomable. My friend said the GHF distribution points will reportedly be based in three areas where people desperate for food would be most exposed to risk and danger. The GHF would distribute food only at these locations and only in the form of hot meals capped at 1700 calories per person! An accounting of calories per person is degrading. It heightens danger. It is a complete denial of autonomy. My friend says if this happens, “At least for me, I will not go there, none of my family also will be there because we prefer to die from starvation rather than going to places where it’s very dangerous and red zones where the army is lurking. And yeah, that’s the situation.”My friend says the message that “looting is happening in Gaza and UN agencies and systems have failed” is being leveraged to create the best conditions whereby the GHF project can be positioned to worsen an already unbearable situation. My friend says it’s good this project didn’t start today and hopes it never does. “At some point,” my friend said, “you realize all of the humanitarian system is a lie.”As of this morning, the few bakeries operating yesterday were closed. Signs posted said they are “closed until further notice.”
