Children living in the isolated northern part of Gaza are without food even for three whole days as it is increasingly difficult to allow humanitarian aid trucks to enter.

According to the BBC, some residents have resorted to grinding animal feed into flour to survive, but even stocks of that grain are now dwindling.

People have also described digging into the ground to access water pipes in order to find drinking water.

The UN has warned that acute malnutrition among young children in the north has risen sharply and is now above the critical threshold of 15%.

The UN’s humanitarian coordination agency, Ocha, says more than half of aid shipments to northern Gaza have been denied access in the past month, and that there is increasing interference by Israeli forces in how and where aid is delivered.

It says an estimated 300,000 people living in the northern regions are largely cut off from aid and face a growing risk of starvation.

The BBC spoke to three people who live in Gaza City and Beit Lahia. Mahmoud Salabi, a local aid worker in Beit Lahia, said people used to grind grain used for animal feed into flour, but even that has run out.

“People are not finding it in the market,” he said. “Not available today in northern Gaza and Gaza City.”

He also said that stocks of canned food are disappearing.

“What we had was actually from the six or seven days of the truce [τον Νοέμβριο] and whatever aid was allowed in northern Gaza has been consumed by now. What people are eating right now is basically rice and only rice.”

The World Food Program (WFP) told the BBC this week that four of the last five aid convoys to the north had been stopped by Israeli forces, meaning a two-week gap between deliveries to Gaza City.

“Serious risk of starvation”

“We know that there is a very serious risk of starvation in Gaza if we do not provide very significant volumes of food aid on a regular basis,” said WFP regional head Matt Hollingworth.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) reported that there was a sharp increase in the number of aid shipments denied access to northern Gaza: specifically, 56% of deliveries were denied in January, up from 14% between October and December.

It also said that the Israeli military “occasionally used excuses” for the amounts of fuel destined for health facilities and “imposed reductions in the amount of aid, such as the amount of food.”

Duha al-Khalidi, a mother of four who lives in Beit Lahia, told the BBC two weeks ago that she walked six miles (9.5km) to her sister’s house in Gaza City in a desperate search for food, since her children had not eaten for three days.

“I have no money, and even if I did, there is nothing in the main market of the city,” he said. “[Η αδερφή μου] and her family also suffer. She shared the last batch of pasta with me at her house.”

“We feel that death has become inevitable,” said her sister, Waad. “We lost the top floor of our house, but we still live here despite the fear of collapse. For two weeks, we can’t find anything in the market; and if some products are available, they are 10 times more expensive than normal.”

“Many of us now drink white water. There are no pipes, we have to dig for water,” explained Mahmoud Salah in Beit Lahia.

A deal between Israel and Hamas is seen by many as the only way to get more aid to Gaza and free the Israeli hostages however, the Israeli military is continuing its heavy shelling now invading Rafah where millions of Palestinians have taken refuge in the last space.