Gaza City – Amidst carefully aligned large pots simmering over a fiery pit, Atef Rayyan meticulously checks the doneness of the meat, in preparation for adding rice. With a precise instruction to add a certain amount of salt to some pots, he urges his team to hasten the meal preparation as the delivery time draws near.
Rayyan manages a charitable kitchen in Deir al-Balah, located in the central Gaza Strip, which he founded just days after the onset of the brutal Israeli war on the territory on October 7th.
His primary motive for establishing the kitchen was to contribute to feeding tens of thousands of displaced people who had fled from the northern part of the strip to its center.
Atef Rayyan supervises the food preparation in the kitchen he operates to feed displaced people in central Gaza Strip (Al Jazeera)
A Vital Role
Observers believe that social solidarity played a important role in preventing a complete collapse of conditions during the war and filled to some extent the void created by the absence of international institutions.
Along with the brutal raids that resulted in nearly 19,000 deaths, Israel imposed a severe blockade on the Strip, cutting off water, electricity, and medical supplies, and significantly restricted the entry of international aid.
Rayyan tells Al Jazeera Net that he started working with his volunteer team on October 20th and continues to provide food to those in need. He emphasizes that such solidarity during the war reinforces the residents’ resolve.
At first, his operation was housed in a school that became a shelter center, but space constraints led him to move to a location more suitable for this charitable work. Nowadays, he explains, they cook meals consisting of rice and meat, sufficient to feed about 5,000 people per day.
Rayyan distributes the hot meals to displaced people in shelters and to the wounded, the sick, and their families at the “Martyrs of Al-Aqsa” hospital and the Zawaida medical center.
The kitchen relies on donations from charitable people within Palestine and abroad for funding. “Allah facilitates this matter through some brothers who love the people’s right to life and survival, offering us money from here and there, enabling us to cook these meals,” Rayyan explains.
However, this charitable work is not without its significant challenges due to the depletion of goods because of the Israeli blockade. The first of these was the lack of cooking gas, forcing reliance on wood, which is also becoming scarce and more expensive.
Rayyan elaborates, “Initially, we depended on gas, and then we resorted to wood, which began to run out. Today, I faced difficulty even providing a sufficient amount of it for my cooking; its price has doubled, from half a shekel per kilogram to 3.5 shekels (about one dollar).”
Salt prices have also surged; a 25-kilogram bag used to cost 15 shekels (4 dollars) and has now reached 1000 shekels (266 dollars). The kitchen also struggles with the scarcity of rice, as the price for a 20-kilogram bag has jumped from 120 shekels (35 dollars) to around 370 shekels (about 100 dollars). Rayyan affirms, “We struggle with everything, but we try to continue.”
Volunteers resort to cooking on wood due to fuel shortages and the occupation’s prevention of fuel entry into the Strip (Al Jazeera)
Volunteer Teams
In the city of Rafah, at the southernmost tip of the Gaza Strip, the human tragedy experienced by hundreds of thousands of displaced people, forced by the Israeli army to leave Khan Younis province, has driven many to initiate volunteer teams for relief.
Wael Abu Mohsen, leader of one of these volunteer teams of about 20 young men, says they work to distribute food, provide clothing and medicines to war victims.
Abu Mohsen tells Al Jazeera Net that the humanitarian situation in Rafah is “extremely dire.” The original population was about 270,000 people but has risen to a million after the displacement and forced migration of hundreds of thousands from Khan Younis.
“The situation in Rafah is catastrophic; the tents of the displaced fill the streets, green spaces, empty lots, and playgrounds; there is no room left for anyone,” he continues. The Israeli army, which began a ground incursion into Khan Younis province about two weeks ago, ordered residents to flee to the Rafah area.
Abu Mohsen mentions that kind-hearted individuals and lovers of the Palestinian people, especially from abroad, send donations to his team and others. His group slaughters two to three cows daily, preparing the food and serving it to the displaced in shelter centers. They also distribute clothing, especially for children.
“Most of the displaced lack the necessary clothes, having fled with their personal attire when the weather was warm, and now it has become cold, so we work on covering their needs,” he explains.
The team also extends its activities to distributing medicines to the displaced, particularly those with chronic diseases and children. Abu Mohsen emphasizes, “Solidarity plays a significant role in alleviating the horrors and hardship of the Israeli war and the difficult circumstances.”
Volunteer teams receive donations from abroad to provide clothing, medicine, and food for the displaced (Al Jazeera)
Clear Solidarity and Support
Acts of solidarity are not limited to charity kitchens and volunteer initiatives; they extend to numerous aspects, including direct assistance from families to the displaced in the form of money, accommodation, water, clothing, bedding, and even kitchen tools.
Political analyst and writer Wissam Afifa tells Al Jazeera Net that “solidarity is distinctly present in today’s scene, with evident collaboration in sharing the limited resources, especially water and food supplies.”
According to Afifa, solidarity is not confined to members of the same family but extends beyond, with families in the central and southern parts providing aid to others from the north, despite their lack of previous acquaintance. He views solidarity as filling the gap left by the absence of international relief institutions, which he says “did not fulfill their role.”
“When tens of thousands fled from the north,” Afifa continues, “Israeli soldiers stripped them of everything they owned at the checkpoint south of the Gaza City, even their clothes. Upon arriving in the south, they were not welcomed by UNRWA or the Red Cross, but by citizens unknown to them, who offered help out of social solidarity.”
Afifa also points to the phenomenon of expatriates abroad sending money to their relatives and friends through various means, which has proven to be a lifesaver “for families faced with disasters, in the absence of a source of income for the displaced.”
He believes that if it weren’t for the role played by social solidarity, “the disaster would have been greater, and famine might have become a cause of death. Chaos, killings, conflicts, theft, and crime could have erupted.”
