It has been months since Huda Abu Leila had to resort to serving only tea and bread to her five daughters for breakfast.
asserted
Leila → have → breakfast
But this week, that’s what the 30-year-old has had to do, after Israel restricted the entry of goods into Gaza earlier this month.
asserted
Israel → ’ → Gaza
After living through three years of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, and the accompanying blockade that often leaves markets partly empty and goods unaffordable, Huda is used to struggling to provide her children – aged between 18 months and 10 years – with a balanced and nutritious diet.
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Huda → live → diet
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he → get → vibe
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But the current situation, with shortages of commercial goods, rising food prices, and cuts to humanitarian assistance, has made it ever harder for her to put enough food on the table.
“We were affected immediately.
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We → kill → table
We couldn’t find eggs or milk, and we don’t have the money to stock up on food,” Huda said.
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Huda → find → food
She lives with her daughters in a tent in western Gaza City.
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She → live → City
Her husband was injured during the war and can no longer work, while she earns a little money by baking bread for other people.
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she → injure → people
Some days, the family eats canned beans with duqqa – a local spice blend – or za’atar.
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family → eat → duqqa
On days when food is not as readily available, like this week, they dip bread in tea.
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they → dip → tea
What worries her most is how the worsening situation will affect her children’s health, particularly as she is already struggling to provide them with enough nutritious food.
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she → worry → food
Israel halted commercial shipments into Gaza on October 14, disrupting supplies of food and other essential goods as families already struggling with high prices faced further shortages.
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families → halt → shortages
The suspension came amid a dispute over a demand for merchants to pay 10,000 shekels ($3,225) per truck to bring goods into the enclave.
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merchants → come → enclave
On October 19, Israel announced that commercial shipments would gradually resume.
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shipments → announce → October
The Israeli military body responsible for coordinating aid and commercial access to Gaza, COGAT, said merchants had reported that Hamas had withdrawn the demand.
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Hamas → coordinate → demand
Hamas described the payment as a voluntary contribution to a fund supporting people affected by the war.
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Hamas → describe → war
The disruption comes as humanitarian assistance is also reduced.
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assistance → come → ?
On October 19, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced that funding shortages had forced it to cut food assistance in Gaza.
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shortages → announce → Gaza
The programme reduced the number of people it supports from 1.6 million in September to 1.1 million in October.
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it → reduce → October
It has also halved food rations, with families receiving one food parcel instead of two, alongside a smaller bag of wheat flour.
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families → halve → flour
The number of hot meals WFP provides daily has been reduced from 250,000 to 150,000.
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WFP → provide → 150,000
WFP said about 1.4 million people in Gaza, approximately two-thirds of the population, were facing acute food insecurity at crisis levels or worse.
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people → say → levels
Famine was declared in Gaza City in August 2025.
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Famine → declare → August
The UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said in December of the same year that it had receded after the beginning of the Gaza ceasefire two months earlier.
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it → back → ceasefire
Families struggle to provide nutritious meals
For Huda, the crisis means she can no longer afford many of the foods her daughters need for a balanced and nutritious diet.
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daughters → struggle → diet
Eggs have become too expensive.
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Eggs → become → ?
A shopkeeper recently quoted her 60 shekels ($19.40) for a tray.
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shopkeeper → quote → tray
She also said some shops appeared to be holding back stock.
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shops → say → stock
Fresh vegetables have also become difficult to afford.
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vegetables → become → ?
When she goes to the market, which she usually does about once a week, she buys only small quantities.
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she → go → quantities
“Onions cost about 10 shekels [$3.25] per kilogramme, while tomatoes cost between 10 and 15 shekels per kilogramme [$3.25 and $4.85],” she said.
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she → cost → 4.85
The vast majority of Gaza’s population is unemployed as a result of Israel’s war and its restrictions on allowing the territory to rebuild its infrastructure and economy.
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territory → allow → infrastructure
The lack of food is starting to have an impact on Huda’s children.
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lack → start → children
She says that they are struggling to concentrate, and often become dizzy and exhausted.
asserted
they → say → ?
The health of her eldest daughter, Salma, has become so poor that she is receiving follow-up care at al-Rantisi Hospital in Gaza, where a doctor advised Huda to improve her daughter’s diet.
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doctor → become → diet
“We have been through so much hardship over the past three years,” she said.
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she → say → years
“I worry that my daughters will get sick if I cannot provide them with enough nutritious food.”
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I → worry → food
Fears of malnutrition
For Raeda Soboh, 40, the struggle to feed her nine-member family means her children have gone months without some of the foods they need to stay healthy.
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they → feed → foods
The displaced mother, originally from Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza but now living in Gaza City, said her family had long depended on community kitchens, known locally as tekkiya, even before the latest disruption to commercial supplies.
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family → live → supplies
“When a kitchen has food, we eat from it,” she said.
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she → have → it
…and 29 more, not listed.
The Aporia
