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KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip - Every day, Hafsa Abu Hamam wakes up early in the morning to cook breakfast on the street sidewalks for her family members using firewood and paper due to a lack of gas.
Abu Hammam has been displaced from the north of Gaza to the southern region of Khan Younis, taking shelter by a wall on a street sidewalk.
"Our suffering is endless. We lost everything we had in possession in Gaza due to Israeli bombardments," Abu Hammam told Rudaw. "We are lucky that we found a place to take refuge in the city of Khan Younis."
While cooking for her family members, the woman continued to talk about the difficulties they face. "We are forced to light the fire on the road because there is no gas to use to make bread and we do not have milk for the children.”
"Our children suffer a lot and do not know what we are going through, why we are here or displaced."
Hassan Abu Hamam joins his mother, Hafsa, and other siblings in preparing bread for them and their children.
"Some of them [the displaced] fled to relatives’ homes, and some others fled to open squares," Hassan said. "We have no place, so we are forced to bake on the roads because the residential units and apartments there are small and narrow."
Scenes of people's suffering in obtaining the most basic life essentials have taken a toll on the displaced as they barely manage to make ends meet.
"Every day at 8 am or 9 am in the morning, we leave our shelters to bring water, facing too many difficulties and I have to wait for more than an hour or two until I get a little water," Muhammad Al-Najjar, another displaced Gazan lamented.
Gaza suffers from a scarcity of basic materials and the high prices of goods and services.
At least 70 percent of the population in Gaza have taken shelter in public places like schools and hospitals, or on the street, fearing for their lives as Israel continues to relentlessly pound residential areas.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) described conditions in its 225 shelter centers as inhumane and deteriorating.
Over 12,300 people, with over 5,000 of them being children, have been killed in Gaza according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Israel’s siege on the blockaded enclave has slashed supplies of food, medicine, and fuel, with small amounts of aid being allowed through from Egypt.
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