Under the scorching summer sun in the al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City, 52-year-old Waheed Ismail Baroud stood amidst a bustling marketplace, searching through stalls laden with items beyond his means, News.az reports citing Xinhua.
Baroud, originally from northern Gaza, has been displaced for months after his home was destroyed in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
"Our life here is harder than anything I have read about in modern history," Baroud told Xinhua. "We live with no money, no food security, no safety. The neighborhoods are cut off from each other, houses are gone, and every day from sunrise to sunset we chase after the basics, such as food and water."
Although he noticed that prices have recently decreased as more goods enter Gaza, the real challenge, he said, is the lack of cash. "As the saying goes, 'A camel for a penny, but who has a penny?' Prices may seem more reasonable, but we simply don't have the money to buy," he lamented.
In another part of Gaza City, Sief al-Din Abu Ramadan, head of the Palestinian Families Leaders (Mukhtars) Association, spends his days mediating disputes between displaced families.
"I have four daughters and a son, and like everyone else here, we live in misery, hunger, poverty, destruction," he told Xinhua.
He criticized the way some merchants take advantage of the crisis. "The price of a kilogram of flour is 20 shekels, but if you pay through the mobile banking app, since banks are closed and cash is rare, sellers want 40 shekels. That's a 100 percent profit at our expense," he said.
Abu Ramadan believes there is no longer a justification for the conflict to continue. "Neither Israel nor Hamas has a goal left worth pursuing in this destruction," he said. "My message is simple: Stop starving us, stop the bloodshed, stop this war in any way possible."
However, while indirect talks for a ceasefire deal have taken place through intermediaries, no comprehensive agreement has been reached. Humanitarian organizations warn that without a truce, conditions in Gaza will continue to deteriorate.
In a makeshift tent in central Gaza City, 41-year-old Saad al-Masri from Beit Lahia lives with his wife and four children. The summer heat turns their shelter into an oven during the day.
"We have no food, no clean water, no safe place," al-Masri said. "Our day is spent searching for water and food. Prices are still too high for people like us with little or no income. The war has crushed everything."
Amid the ongoing hardships and tough times, al-Masri's faith in the promise of peace is starting to waver.
"This is an eternal conflict," he said, his voice heavy with exhaustion. "But we plead with everyone -- negotiators, Arab and foreign governments -- to end this war. We are a broken people, and we want to live in peace like the rest of the world."
