Sally Ibrahim
The New Arab / March 17, 2025
Bread prices have skyrocketed. Before the closure, a loaf cost $US 1.5. Now, it costs over $US 3, an impossible price for someone unemployed for months.
Gaza – In the Al-Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City, where shattered buildings stand as silent witnesses to relentless bombardment, Mahmoud al-Zard (42) stands in a long line outside a closed bakery. Sweat drips from his brow, and his eyes blend despair and quiet defiance.
It is the fifth day in a row that Al-Zard has stood here, hoping to secure a loaf of bread to sustain his five children for a day.
“I go out at dawn, wandering between bakeries, and sometimes I return home empty-handed. There’s no flour or gas even when bread is available, the price is beyond my reach. Getting bread has become a daily battle,” Al-Zard complained to The New Arab, glancing at his son Adam, who gripped his hand tightly and stared at the endless queue.
The battle for bread and water
For the third week in a row, Israel has sealed off the Kerem Shalom crossing, claiming it is to pressure Hamas into extending the truce without entering the second phase of the ceasefire agreement that began on 19 January.
The illegal Israeli closure has paralysed the flow of humanitarian aid, food, and medical supplies into Gaza, pushing an already desperate population closer to collapse, and has been described as another “war crime” by various local and international organisations.
Flour is scarce, and the few bakeries still operating are running out of gas and fuel. Mahmoud’s daily routine has become a brutal cycle of walking from one bakery to another, often returning home empty-handed.
“I have started walking longer distances, sometimes to bakeries in other neighbourhoods. I return in the evening, and my children look at me, waiting for food. I told them: ‘Tomorrow will be better.’ But I know it is a lie,” Al-Zard said.
Bread prices have skyrocketed. Before the closure, a loaf cost $US 1.5. Now, it costs over $US 3, an impossible price for someone unemployed for months.
“Even when bread was affordable, it was hard to get. But now? How can I afford $US 3 when I do not have any source of income?” Al-Zard asked bitterly.
The struggle does not end with bread. Finding clean drinking water has become another exhausting challenge. With damaged water infrastructure and constant electricity outages, even securing water for daily use has become a test of endurance.
A week ago, Israel cut off the sole electricity line powering Gaza’s desalination plants, worsening an already dire water crisis.
Al-Zard walks more than two kilometres daily to fill a plastic container from a charity-run water tank.
“The water in Gaza is salty and undrinkable. Even when we find fresh water, reaching it requires so much effort. Electricity is cut off most of the day, so we must manually fill the gallons,” he said.
Sometimes, when the tank runs dry, Al-Zard is forced to buy water at inflated prices from private vendors.
“We have started rationing water. We shower once a week, and the priority is on drinking and cooking. My wife tells the kids to use as little water as possible when washing their hands,” he added.
Inside their modest home, Al-Zard’s wife, Sara, kneels on a small kitchen floor, mixing a handful of flour with water and salt to make thin bread over a wood fire.
Gas has long run out, so Sara scavenges broken wood from destroyed homes to keep the fire burning.
“Sometimes the children go to bed hungry. I tell them tomorrow will be better, but I know it won’t,” the 39-year-old told TNA, her voice heavy with resignation.
Mealtime has become a single meal per day. Breakfast is a memory. “We have got used to having tea and dry bread in the morning. If lucky, we might have some rice or lentils for dinner,” Sara lamented.
The collapse of Gaza’s economy
Abdul Nasser al-Ajrami, head of the Bakery Owners Association in Gaza, warns that more than 70 percent of Gaza’s bakeries have shut down due to the flour and fuel shortage.
“If the Kerem Shalom crossing isn’t reopened soon, the remaining bakeries will stop completely. People will face a humanitarian catastrophe,” Al-Ajrami told TNA.
Economist Tareq al-Hajj predicts that Gaza’s economic situation could collapse entirely within weeks: “The rise in bread and water prices, combined with the overall economic downturn, has pushed over 1.5 million Palestinians below the poverty line. If the closure continues, Gaza will face real famine,” he told TNA.
In the absence of solutions, Palestinians in Gaza have turned to self-reliance. Al-Zard has started planting vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers, and aubergines in a small plot near his house.
“I hope it will help feed my family, but it is hard without water. Even if the crops succeed, they won’t be enough,” he said.
The crisis has stripped Gaza of its Ramadan traditions. Once a time of bustling streets and family gatherings, for Al-Zard, Ramadan has become eerily quiet.
“Ramadan was the month of visits and generosity. Before iftar, the streets would be alive with movement. Neighbours would exchange food, and families would gather for prayer and meals,” Al-Zard recalled.
Currently, the fuel shortage has paralysed even the simplest forms of social connection. Transportation costs are prohibitive, and families have become isolated, he said.
“We do not visit each other anymore. People are too exhausted from standing in bread and water lines to even think about hosting guests,” Al-Zard added.
Moreover, he continues, “We used to pray together. Now, we pray at home. It is too hard to walk to the mosque without fuel or food.”
As night falls over Gaza, Al-Zard sits with Adam on the floor of their dimly lit home. He breaks the last piece of bread in half, giving the more significant portion to his son.
“We survive day by day. I tell my children that things will get better. I have to say it because hope is the only thing we have left,” he explained.
Sally Ibrahim is The New Arab’s correspondent from Gaza
