Starvation

One of the horrors Israel is using in Gaza is deliberate starvation. Israel prevented aid trucks from entering the Strip for many months, openly and even with cries of revenge. Government ministers declared and told us all that "they deserve it," reinforcing the terrible message that “there are no innocents in Gaza,” as if entire families, children, babies – two million people – are guilty of the October 7 massacre. Even now, when some aid trucks do get through, the amounts don’t come close to meeting the huge food needs, and there are reports of unfit, moldy food being brought in under the label of “aid.” Additionally, distribution centers are far from population centers, in order to force people to move closer to where Israel wants them, in order to control the vacated areas. The shooting and killing of hungry, exhausted people trying to get bread is known worldwide. Hundreds have already died of starvation, the most vulnerable first: children in front of their helpless parents, elders in front of their helpless children, the sick in front of their helpless loved ones, with no way to help.

As of Friday, September 19, 2025, 440 people have died of hunger in Gaza, among them 147 children.

Meirav Trachtman Cohen, in her illustrations and accompanying texts, gives the hunger shape, body, and humanity...

Ayala Shalev, Editor, That’s About Us

---

Starvation

Meirav Trachtman Cohen

Who wants to play the Flour Game?

In Gaza this is not a game.

Soon enough there will no longer be kids in Gaza.

Forget about territorial waters.

Just give them water to drink.

Unlike sandbags, sacks of flour don’t protect from death.

Every day, dozens of Gazans are killed by the IDF while trying to bring food to their families.

The army, fearing gatherings, reports that drones targeted "suspects."

Suspects of what? Of wanting to live?

Mom, what’s for lunch? I’m starving. Actually, I’m not hungry. It doesn’t taste good. I don’t want schnitzel again. Can we order? What’s for dessert?”

In Gaza, the death toll has already crossed 60,000.

“Here in Gaza, no one asks anymore how many were killed, but who survived today, who managed to get a loaf of bread, and who had milk to give their baby.”

The Holocaust is the catastrophe of the Jewish people: the greatest genocide in human history, beginning in 1933 and ending in 1945. The killing stopped, but the struggle of those who survived lasted their entire lives and passed down through generations.

The Nakba is the catastrophe of the Palestinian people: an ongoing nightmare, growing worse with every passing day, unveiling horrors that echo chilling memories of the Holocaust that we all carry.

The Nakba is first and foremost the disaster of the Palestinian people. But it is also our tragedy.

Our realization of our own inhumanity in this era will continue to haunt and challenge generations to come.

---

Meirav Trachtman Cohen. Artist. Longing lines.