‘We want food’: Desperate Gaza children march against bombing and food shortages

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Young children in Gaza have marched in protest against bombardment of the war-torn enclave and ongoing food shortages.

A video taken on Wednesday morning showed a group of boys and girls calling for an end to Israel’s siege, as the reported dead toll in Gaza approaches 30,000 since the 7 October Hamas attacks.

They held homemade posters, shouted and banged sticks on saucepans and trays as they walked past rubble and destroyed vehicles in northern Gaza.

Banners held by children had “bread becomes my dream” and “we want food,” written on them, according to Turkish news agency Anadolu.

“We die from hunger, we have nothing to eat, we are forced to eat animal food,” 10-year-old Ayat Ashour told Anadolu.

“Food has become unaffordable, we want to live, we want (food) aid. … The people in the northern Gaza Strip find nothing to eat, there is no milk for children.”

The death toll in Gaza since October 7 has reached 29,410 according to the Gaza Health Ministry, with at least 69,465 more wounded. Around 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas attacks, with more than 200 more kidnapped, Israel has said.

The protest came on the same day chaos erupted in the House of Commons during the UK parliament’s debate on a Gaza ceasefire.

MPs walked out in protest and Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle is facing mounting pressure to resign, with more than 50 MPs signing a motion of no confidence in him due to his handling of the debate. It centred on his decision to allow a break in convention and select Labour’s bid to amend the SNP motion calling for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza and Israel, which was later passed without vote.

United Nations agencies and aid groups say the ongoing hostilities, the Israeli military’s refusal to facilitate deliveries and the breakdown of order inside Gaza make it increasingly difficult to bring vital aid to much of the coastal enclave.

The World Food Program has paused food deliveries to isolated northern Gaza, where the UN children’s agency says one in six children are acutely malnourished.

A UN report in December found that a quarter of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are starving.

Israel denies it is restricting the entry of aid and has shifted the blame to humanitarian organizations operating inside Gaza, saying hundreds of trucks filled with aid sit idle on the Palestinian side of the main crossing.