The family with whom we maintain contact in Gaza asked us this week if we could help with food supplies and a water truck. We wondered how they would get this, since we read in the media that everything had run out and no aid had been allowed in for two months. There would still be a few local water purification plants and some farmers growing something locally, was the answer. This was aid on a small scale. There would be a water truck with 3.5 thousand liters of water and food for 400 people. We realized it was just a drop in the ocean and that opening the borders to the big aid organizations would be the only way to really make a difference, but we decided we wanted to do what we could.
Friday, May 2, we were shown a video of food being distributed to local people. I was very grateful to our helper and to God. I sent him the message:
“God/Allah bless you.”
He replied:
“God calls us to love and help others and we do so. This is the message of humanity.”
I was touched by his words. That even in the difficult circumstances he lives in, he is open to helping his fellow humans and does so. Saturday, May 3, the video of the water truck appeared. Unfortunately, there was a child with Down syndrome who had not had water. It is very difficult that we cannot help everyone….
I did not dare to share the videos on social media. First, because our helper appeared in the video and I was afraid he would become a target, perhaps an unfounded fear…. Second, I was afraid that we would be inundated with donations and we can’t handle that because we are only a very small peace organization with volunteers. Furthermore, I also wonder if we are not stimulating the war economy this way.
We decided to support a second water truck and food distribution. Then I read on the Dutch news website, NOS, that a lot of food is being stolen. So I decided to inquire about this.
“Where does the chef buy his food? I read that also a lot of food is stolen?”
He replied:
“I don’t know where he is from, but he deals with some merchants. This has been his business for several years. As for the food that was stolen, people eat it. They do not find food. I do not justify theft, but the reality of the situation in Gaza is very difficult. People are falling down in the streets from hunger. Children are wandering around in hunger. We have been living in a real famine for more than two months, and nothing has entered Gaza Strip. […] The famine is rolling like a snowball, getting bigger and bigger with speed. There are really no words to describe what we are living through, even the word famine does not give the true meaning.”
Today the news appeared on NOS that there is an agreement in Israel to extend the war. I am so sad and appalled. What about the civilians? They have already fled many times to so-called “safe” zones, which were then also bombed. They are thirsty and hungry. The family in Gaza also informed me that there is no more security in Gaza, nor is there hardly any health care. They have been surviving for so long, day in and day out. They are intensely traumatized.
Politicians and world leaders, please have mercy on the children, the civilians in Gaza. I continue to pray and call for a ceasefire, the opening of the borders and the provision of humanitarian aid by the major relief organizations. As well as for the release of the hostages and Palestinian prisoners held without charge.
I believe that the people of Israel will also be safer if there is another ceasefire. We need to move away from the spiral of violence and trauma, to a spiral of peace and healing.
Hopefully soon there will be: A world where all children can play.
Author: May-May Meijer, chair Peace SOS
Photo: Children receiving water during the second Peace SOS water distribution in Gaza on May 7th, 2025.
Note: This article was published in Dutch under the title ‘De familie uit Gaza: de hongersnood verspreidt zich als een sneeuwbal, hij wordt snel groter en groter’ on the Joop BNNVARA website on May 5th, 2025