Home World A harrowing journey to find food in Gaza

A harrowing journey to find food in Gaza

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People carrying aid parcels walk along the Salah al-Din road, used by food-seeking Palestinians to reach an aid distribution point set up by the privately-run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images

People carrying aid parcels walk along the Salah al-Din road, used by food-seeking Palestinians to reach an aid distribution point set up by the privately-run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images

Israel bans international journalists from independent access to Gaza. But NPR’s Anas Baba is from Gaza, and in the 21 months he has been reporting on the war, he’s also been living it. Over the course of the war, he has lost a third of his body weight, and until his food supplies ran out several weeks ago, he was getting by on just one small meal a day.

Israel still tightly restricts the entry of food into Gaza. The food it does allow in is mostly distributed through new sites run by private American contractors with a group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. GHF operates under protection from the Israeli military, and the U.N. Secretary General António Guterres said this new system “is killing people.”

According to health officials and international medical teams in Gaza, hundreds of people have been killed by Israeli troops as they approach these food sites. U.S. officials have accused American media of spreading Hamas misinformation.

In this episode, Anas Baba takes us on the perilous journey he made to one of these new GHF distribution sites, in an attempt to secure food.

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This episode was also reported by Daniel Estrin, and produced by Jonaki Mehta and Matt Ozug. It was edited by Christopher Intagliata, Nadia Lancy and James Hider. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.

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