Martyrs for Flour

A Lament and a Reckoning

A week ago – I saw another article of a child in Gaza who died of malnutrition. I moved past it but I couldn’t move away.

She was 5 months old and she was one of 85 children who died of malnutrition according to the latest release, but the war‑long death toll surpasses 100 children.

I had been wanting to write about this situation but I knew the research would be soul-wrenching. So it sat. Time moved. While I wrestled with my conscience, while I opened the fridge and scoffed at the contents, while I slept with my belly full.

So finally, I began – gathering, a bit here, some more over there, rabbit holes and bombs, abundance and waste, tears and indifference, power and greed.

I chose to start here.

Every year, the United States throws away nearly 60 million tons of food or 40% of all food produced.

One hundred and twenty billion pounds. That’s approximately 2.3 billion pounds of food, every single week.

Let me break that down – 2.3 billion pounds of food could potentially feed about 3.28 million people for one year, or the entire population of Gaza for approximately 1 year and 7 months.

Let that sink in – the food we waste in a week can feed the population of Gaza for almost 2 years.

I let that settle for a moment. My emotions needed time. I had to wait.
2.3 billion pounds.
Of food.
Thrown away.
Every. Week.

Children are dying of starvation.
Now.
Today.

And while we are not legally obligated to feed the world, don’t we have a moral obligation to prevent human suffering?

I tell myself just gather the facts.
Write the piece.
Post the truth.

But it’s not that simple.
Because the truth is never quiet.
It never sits next to me politely.
It storms through my house.
It shatters the stillness.
It pulls the breath from my chest.

And in the middle of it,
I still wonder,
Am I being too dramatic?

But then I see the photos.
Children with eyes too big for their faces.
Ribs pressing through skin.
Mothers who hold them like they’re trying to stop the world from breaking open.
Tiny little bundles.

No. I’m not being too dramatic.
We, all of us, aren’t being dramatic enough.

Let’s talk about Gaza.
Yes, Israel did lift the blockade in May, and yes, some prominent Israelis, including a former Prime Minister and a former military chief, have voiced strong criticism and have even accused the government of committing war crimes in Gaza. Still only limited aid is being let through.
And they blame Hamas and the UN for that.
Let’s point the fingers instead of lifting a hand to help.

Tell me, how is it that there is so much food waiting, sitting there,
But we cannot get it to the ones that need it so desperately?
We can drop bombs – but we cannot drop food?

Is there something I am missing?

Let’s talk about starvation used as a weapon.
Let’s talk about bullets meeting bags of flour.
Aid lines turned into firing lines.
People being killed with food in their hands.

Martyrs for bread.
Martyrs for water.

Let’s talk about babies dying of hunger.
Mothers grinding animal feed into flour.
Families boiling weeds and calling it dinner.

How did we get here?
Where hunger is engineered?
Where war gets to decide who eats?
Where a dispute over a piece of land,
outweighs a child’s breath?

This isn’t about sides.
It’s about humanness.
About empathy.
About mercy.

We say we believe in dignity.
We chant about justice.
We remember the past and say “never again.”

But if we turn our faces, while babies die—
what do those words even mean?

“Let there be justice for all. Let there be peace for all. Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all. Let each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfill themselves.”
— Nelson Mandela

• Former Israeli PM Warns Netanyahu to ‘Be Very Careful’ With Trump
• According to the World Food Programme, 100% of Gaza’s population now faces acute food insecurity, with 470,000 people suffering catastrophic hunger and 71,000 children needing urgent treatment for malnutrition.
• The UN has called Gaza’s starvation “man-made mass starvation,” attributing it to the ongoing blockade and lack of sufficient aid delivery, despite official pauses and limited access.
• Aid agencies and UN spokespeople have described deliveries as merely a “drop in the ocean”—not nearly enough to stave off famine, especially as hundreds are killed even while waiting in lines.