Omar Deeb was nearly hit by Israeli tank fire while searching for food in Gaza, and then saw people killed around him when he set out once more to feed his family in the besieged enclave.
But like many Gazans who could soon face famine he has no choice but to embark on what he calls ‘death missions’, risking his life to provide for his six children, who live in a school shelter.
“If I go, we eat. And if I don’t, we don’t eat,” Deeb, 37, who lives in Gaza City, told Reuters over the phone.
Securing aid has become a life or death scramble in Gaza during a six-month-old Israeli ground and air campaign that has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians and wounding more than 75,000, according to Gaza health authorities.
The UN has warned of a looming famine and complained of obstacles to getting aid in and distributing it throughout Gaza. The US also says famine is imminent.
Deeb hasn’t yet healed from wounds sustained when pieces of a building which were blown apart struck him as he tried grab flour from aid trucks entering northern Gaza.
Deeb also came close to death two other times, he said, first on February 29 when the Gaza health ministry said more than 100 people were killed by Israeli fire as they ventured to get aid.
Israel said the deaths were caused when people were trampled over or run over by trucks carrying aid.
On March 23, he said Israel opened fire at an aid drop point at Gaza’s Kuwait roundabout, where several other people were killed around him, mostly members of the Popular Committees, a body formed of traditional family clans and factions to secure aid convoys.
“Every time (I go) it feels like the last time,” said Deeb.
“Therefore, I pay farewell to my wife and children. I ask my wife to forgive me, the children too,” said Deeb, whose son aged five was killed in an Israeli strike on his house in December.
Underscoring the chaos in Gaza, citizens from Australia, Britain and Poland were among seven people working for celebrity chef Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen who were killed in an Israeli air strike in central Gaza yesterday.
“The last time I ate meat, it was chicken – it was a week before the war,” said Deeb.
Desperate and hungry, thousands like Deeb head to aid drop points when night falls to secure some flour or canned food.
They learn about incoming drops from aid truck drivers who phone it in to their relatives, who in turn spread the word.
“When the aid trucks reach Deir Al Balah in central Gaza, my neighbour’s relative (the driver) gives him a call, and we rise up to go, regardless of what time it is,” he said.
When Deeb and others scramble to aid drop spots, others like Abu Mahmoud, a member of the Popular Committees, beat their way to the food with sticks to try to keep order. Some other members, mostly from Hamas, have guns.
A former public servant, Abu Mahmoud has survived death in both locations mentioned by Deeb. At one of those incidents he lost three of his friends, he said.
These men see their risky mission as no less important than fighting Israel, says Abu Mahmoud, a father of five.
“It is a mission to martyrdom,” said Abu Mahmoud, who declined to give his full name for fear of Israeli reprisals.
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