Maryam Sheehan fears her three young children might once again be at risk of malnutrition as Israel banned 37 international humanitarian organisations from operating in Gaza, claiming they failed to comply with new registration rules.
Amal, Samar and Mohammed, who are between the ages of two and eight, all became severely malnourished last year amid Israeli restrictions on the entry of aid. The UN declared famine in parts of the war-battered enclave in August.
“There were days I had nothing to feed them," Ms Sheehan, 32, told The National. "Their father had no work. Even trying to reach aid zones meant risking death.”
She said the only support came from centres in Deir Al Balah, which hosted projects funded by the Norwegian Refugee Council, one of the aid groups that Israel is to ban in Gaza. “Before this war, I had never heard of them. But they saved my children," Ms Sheehan said. "They gave us supplements and their doctors checked on my kids every week.”
More than two million Palestinians – almost Gaza's entire population − are dependent on humanitarian agencies after two years of war in which Israel destroyed hospitals, homes, infrastructure and agriculture.
Organisations such as the UN agency for Palestinian refugees and the World Food Programme supply most of Gaza’s food –
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