GAZA - Israel's relentless bombardment and total siege of the Gaza Strip have worsened the hunger crisis there to a point where Gazan residents have been forced to slaughter horses, eat grass and livestock bran.
At the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, Abu Jibril recounted the difficult situation that forced him to slaughter two of his horses to feed his family members.
"We have no other choice but to slaughter the horses to feed the children. The hunger is killing us," the 60-year-old told AFP as quoted by WAFA.
He cooked the horse meat before serving it to his family and neighbours, without telling them its source.
"I was worried about their reaction if they found out they were consuming horse meat," he said.
The Jabalia Camp, which was established in 1948 and covers an area of just 1.4 kilometres, is the largest in the Gaza Strip.
Abu fled Beit Hanoun with his family when the Israeli invasion began and they took refuge at the UNRWA Al-Faluga School.
Before the invasion, contaminated water and power outages were major problems in the densely populated camp.
Now, the situation has been worsened by food supplies running out because aid agencies do not have access to the affected areas.
Camp dwellers began eating rotting corn, livestock bran and grass.
The World Food Programme last week said the situation in Gaza is dangerous with "unprecedented levels of desperation" while the United Nations warned that 2.2 million people are on the brink of starvation.
The UN Children's Fund warned that the alarming lack of food in addition to increasing malnutrition and disease could lead to an "explosion" of deaths among children in Gaza. - BERNAMA