配給頼るガザ住民、わずかな食料に長蛇の列　餓死の恐れも

【ガザ市（パレスチナ自治区）ＡＦＰ＝時事】パレスチナ自治区ガザ南部のラファで避難民のための食料配給に連日、ボランティアとして参加するバクル・ナジさん（２８）は、子どもたちの胃袋を満たすには量が足りないことが分かった瞬間に、毎回、やるせない気持ちになる。（写真は、パレスチナ自治区ガザ南部ラファで、食料の配給を待つ人々）
　ラファの食料配給所で取材に応じたナジさんは、わずかな食料を求め、無数の人が列をつくると話す。自身もガザ市の自宅から逃れてきた避難民だが、同じ境遇にある人々のために、炊き出しのボランティアをしている。
　ＡＦＰに対し、「一番つらいのは、食料を配る時だ」と述べ、「食べ物が尽き、子どもたちに『おなかがすいた』『もうないの』と言われると、とても心苦しくなる」と説明した。
　そのような状況に直面すると、ボランティアたちの多くは、自らの食料を差し出す。
　２１日に公表された国連の総合的食料安全保障レベル分類（ＩＰＣ）報告書は、１２月初め時点までにガザでは２００万人以上が危機的な飢餓状態にあり、３７万８０００人超は「壊滅的な飢餓」に直面していると指摘した。
　イスラエル軍とイスラム組織ハマスの戦闘が繰り広げられているガザには、わずかの人道支援物資しか搬入されない。
　ラファの食料配給所では、フェンスで囲われたエリアで炊き出しが行われている。大人も大勢の子どもも、プラスチック製のボウルや小さな鍋を手にフェンスの外で辛抱強く待つのだ。
　１日当たり約１万人分の食料を配っている慈善団体の職員、ハレド・シェイク・エイドさんは、「レンズ豆もブルガー小麦も市場からなくなった。エンドウ豆も白インゲン豆も消えた」と話す。
　エイドさんによると、配給所は寄付とボランティアの参加で運営できているが、常に乏しい物資でやりくりせざるを得ないという。
　■「餓死より殉教の方がまし」
　ナジさんは、「豆の缶詰の値段は１シェケル（約４０円）から６シェケル（約２４０円）に跳ね上がった」と語る。
　「戦争前も人々は貧しく、職を持つ人でも子どもに十分食べさせられなかった。それなのに、この状況にどう対処すればいいのか」と述べ、「餓死者が出るのではないかと恐れている」と続けた。
　南部ハンユニスから逃れてきた、妊娠５か月のヌール・バルバクさんは、食料配給所が開く何時間も前から列に並んでいた。
　トマト３個と２シェケル（約８０円）を握り締めたバルバクさんは、「１２歳の長男にときどき来させているが、暴力を振るわれるだけで何ももらえずに泣きながら帰ってくる」と話し、「ここがなければ、私たちは何も入手できない」と訴えた。
　「子どもたちはやせ細り、空腹のため夜中に起きる」と厳しい状況を説明し、激戦地となっているハンユニスの自宅に戻ろうと考えたこともあると打ち明けた。
　「飢え死にするより、殉教者として家で死ぬ方がましだから」【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/12/29-17:02）

When Bakr al-Naji realises the meals he prepares each day for a charity in the Gaza Strip won't be sufficient to fill the stomachs of the children, his heart sinks.
In Rafah, a city at the southern end of Gaza, thousands of people queue up for a little food at the Tkiyeh centre, said Naji.
The 28-year-old was displaced from Gaza City, but volunteers to cook for those facing the same circumstances.
The most difficult moment, for me, is when I hand out the meals, he told AFP.
I feel a pang in my heart when there is no more food and the children complain and say they haven't eaten enough, he said.
Faced with those pleas, most volunteers sacrifice their own meals.
According to UN's hunger monitoring system (IPC) by the start of December more than two million Gazans were already facing acute food insecurity, with more than 378,000 experiencing catastrophic hunger.
The IPC report on Thursday said that there was a risk of famine which was increasing each day and warned that within weeks the entire population will face acute food insecurity or worse.
Humanitarian aid is only trickling into the besieged coastal territory, which Israel's army has been pounding since October 7.
The relentless ground and air campaign, aimed at destroying Hamas, was triggered by the Islamist groups' unprecedented attack on Israel in which it killed around 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli figures.
Israel's retaliation has killed more than 20,200 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
In Rafah, people crowded against a barrier separating the crowd from large, steaming pots of food.
Adults and a large number of children were waiting with plastic bowls and small pots.
Lentils and bulgur wheat have disappeared from the markets, as well as peas and white beans, said Khaled Sheikh al-Eid, an official at the charity which serves around 10,000 people a day.
His centre survives thanks to donations and volunteers and must constantly juggle what few supplies are available.
- 'Die of hunger' -
A can of beans has gone from one shekel ($ 0.28) to six), said Naji.
People were poor before the war, even those who worked had barely enough to feed their children. How can they cope now? he asked. I fear that people will die of hunger.
In the morning, Salam Haidar, 36, was queueing outside the food centre.
They told me that it's too early but I want to be sure that I get something, said the mother of three small children.
My son cries when he sees another child holding a piece of bread. He tried to steal sweets from another child, I had to tell him it was very bad.
Nur Barbakh, five months pregnant and displaced from Khan Yunis, was also waiting hours before the opening of the centre in Rafah.
Sometimes I send my 12-year-old eldest son but he gets beaten up. He comes back crying and empty handed, said Barbakh.
If it wasn't for this centre, we would have nothing at all, she said, holding three tomatoes and two shekels in her hand. I couldn't find any bread.
My children have lost a lot of weight, the hunger wakes them up at night, she said, adding that she was considering returning to her home in Khan Yunis, despite it being the centre of fighting between Israel and Hamas.
It's better to die at home as a martyr than to die of hunger, she said.