Gaza City, Gaza Strip – Hani Abu Rizq walks through Gaza City’s wrecked streets with two bricks tied against his stomach as the rope cuts into his clothes, which hang loose from the weight he has lost.The 31-year-old searches desperately for food to feed his mother and seven siblings with the bricks pressed against his belly – an ancient technique he never imagined he would need.“We’re starved,” he says, his voice hollow with exhaustion.“Even starvation as a word falls short of what we’re all feeling,” he adds, his eyes following people walking past.He adjusts the rope around his waist, a gesture that has become as routine as breathing.“I went back to what people did in ancient times, tying stones around my belly to try to quiet my hunger. This isn’t just war. It’s an intentional famine.”The fading of Gaza’s heartbeatBefore October 7, 2023, and the start of Israel’s war on Gaza, food was the heartbeat of daily life in Gaza.The days in Gaza were built around communal meals – breakfasts of zaatar and glistening olive oil, lunches of layered maqlooba and musakhan that filled homes with warmth, and evenings spent around trays of rice, tender meat and seasonal salads sparkling with herbs from gardens.Abu Rizq remembers those days with the ache of someone mourning the dead.The unmarried man used to love dining and gathering with family and friends. He speaks of comfortable din …
