Holding the Line in #Gaza – A Personal Update (March 9, 2025)

by #HaniAlmadhoun, Organizer of the #GazaSoupKitchen

"Hey Friends,

Wanted to check in with an update on what’s happening in Gaza and what we’ve been up to at the Gaza Soup Kitchen. Things are still unbelievably tough, but we’re keeping the fire going—literally and figuratively.

Food and Supplies – It’s Only Getting Harder

Food isn’t being allowed in, and essentials like vegetables and meat are nearly impossible to find. Many people haven’t seen fresh produce or protein in weeks. Restaurants are shutting down because they simply don’t have ingredients to cook with, and the exchange rate is climbing again, making everything even more expensive for people who have nothing left.

Even with all that, we’re still cooking every day. We’ve managed to keep going, and right now, we have enough food supplies to last about two more weeks. After that? We’ll figure it out, just like we always do. We may have to scale back food parcels, but we’re determined to keep meals coming. Chicken is likely off the menu—without widespread refrigeration, there’s no way to store it safely.

Here’s what we did just today:
Cooked at all five of our locations
Delivered 75 food boxes to struggling families
Sent 150 meals to hospitals
Distributed 10 containers of drinking water

Life for Displaced Families – No Relief in Sight

Nothing is improving for displaced families. They’re still living in tents that don’t protect them from the rain or the heat. Supplies are drying up, medicine is scarce, and hospitals are barely functioning. It’s a grinding crisis. People are resilient, but you can feel the exhaustion setting in.

I know that for many outside, Gaza isn’t in the headlines like it was before. People move on, news cycles shift, attention fades. But the suffering hasn’t stopped—#Palestinians are still being targeted, families are still struggling, and there’s no real ceasefire in place. We can’t afford to look away.

The Money Talk – Spending More Than We’re Bringing In

My displaced Palestinian accountant (yes, really) sent me a message after going through our February bank statement. His exact words? 'Hani, you’re spending way more than you brought in. Maybe slow it down?'

I told him straight up — 'Not happening.' The community doesn’t need us to slow down; they need us to keep going. We’re not reckless, but we’re preparing for Ramadan—stocking up food, keeping locations ready, and making sure we can feed as many people as possible in the weeks ahead.

What’s Next?

We need:
More aid to get through
Access to essential supplies
Rebuilding materials to be allowed in

Until that happens, we’ll keep cooking. We’re not stopping.

Thanks for standing with us—this is only possible because of you. Your support means the world, and I hope you know that. More soon.

Hani

P.S. Please know that I hate talking about money—I’d much rather focus on the impact we’re making. But just to give you a sense of how far your support goes:

$30 buys a food box for a family in need

$200 delivers drinking water to 200 families

$8 provides a nourishing meal to someone who hasn't eaten in days

$200 runs our medical point for an entire day, providing care and comfort to 70+ people

Every dollar counts and makes a real difference in the lives of those we’re trying to help. Your generosity is what keeps us going."

Donate:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/Hot-meals-in-gaza-daily
#NorthGaza #GazaAid #GazaFundraisers #FreePalestine #Fundraisers #FoodIsLife #WaterIsLife #GoFundMe #BeitLahiya #BaitLahiya #KhanYounes #Palestine #Genocide #Starvation #IsraeliWarCrimes #NorthernGaza
Remember #ChefMahmoud
#HumanRightsAreNeverWrong

The awesome thing about American politics is that genocidal imperialism, settler-colonialism, and capitalist extraction at bayonet point are so inherently bipartisan that each successive American regime, regardless of stated ideological positions, will continue the malevolent policies, murders, and crimes against humanity of the prior regime without it so much as inspiring questions or commentary from our (clearly) pro-genocide media/commentariat. Oh wait, no that's not awesome, it sucks ass.

To the surprise of precisely no one, and very little fanfare, it took the Trump administration about five weeks to greenlight Israel's continued genocide in Gaza via crimes against humanity (in this case, intentional starvation.) I guess it's hard to build luxury condos in Gaza if any Palestinians are alive to object.

https://truthout.org/articles/trump-admin-bypasses-congress-to-send-israel-4b-as-it-blocks-aid-into-gaza/

Trump Admin Bypasses Congress to Send Israel $4B as It Blocks Aid Into Gaza

"The blockade, which began on Sunday, deprives Palestinians of basic needs like food, water and medicine, plunging the Gaza Strip back into some of the worst days of the genocide. This is after Israel had indeed increased the amount of aid entering Gaza amid the first phase of the captive swap deal, but still had not fulfilled all of its obligations to allow in supplies like shelter.

Human rights groups have condemned the blockade, saying that it amounts to collective punishment and a deadly continuation of Israel’s genocide.

“Israel is once again blocking an entire population from receiving aid, using it as a bargaining chip. This is unacceptable, outrageous, and will have devastating consequences,” said Médecins Sans Frontières’s emergency coordinator Caroline Seguin.

UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) head Phillippe Lazzarini suggested that Israel was using basic needs as “weapons of war” and that the blockade “threatens the lives of civilians exhausted by 16 months of brutal war.” The use of starvation and the withholding of aid as a weapon of war have been cited by human rights experts as acts of genocide by Israeli authorities."

As the article notes, the $4B that little maggot Rubio just approved is only part of a larger 12B the Trump administration is sending Israel, and the White House has publicly backed Israel's renewed efforts to starve women and children to death, citing some presumably made up shit about "HAMAS" - despite the fact that these are crimes against humanity and thus cannot be justified or legally authorized no matter what excuse Downmarket Mussolini wants to offer for doing so. The more things change, the more they stay the same I guess.

Predictably, this aid package and Trump's support for again, a genocide we're arming, funding, and ideologically supporting on the world stage, has generated mostly subdued commentary from an American for-profit media complex that liked that genocide a lot when Joe Biden was the one approving weapons shipments and foreign aid Israel doesn't need; their primary focus appears to be contrasting Trump's financial support for Netanyahu with the administration's decision to cut off all military aid to Ukraine - which does indeed raise some questions that are probably already answered by Downmarket Mussolini's craven bootlicking towards Putin and his administration's open charm policy shift towards Russia. As important as that discussion is however, you'd think in any sort of responsible media environment we might see at least SOME significant sort of outrage over the fact that the US government is once again helping Israel conduct a genocide, but I suppose I'm the greater fool for thinking bombing hospitals and starving babies rates as a news item compared to how rude that shitbird Trump was to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on live TV. I guess that kind of callous disregard for innocent human lives and full-throated amour for US imperial predation in our media, doesn't change much from election to election either.