‘Life covered in soot’: Gas shortage forces Gaza families to cook over wood

Shortly before the call to sunset prayer, Islam Dardouna, 34, prepares food over a makeshift stove fueled by paper and wood, holding an asthma inhaler as she cooks for her three children.

“Gaza City, the Gaza Strip – Shortly before the call to sunset prayer, Islam Dardouna stretches her hand towards a pot hanging over a makeshift stove fashioned from a battered metal can, with scraps of paper and pieces of wood feeding the fire beneath it”

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She has been displaced from Jabalia since the start of Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in the territory in October 2023 and now lives in Sheikh Ajleen after her home was destroyed a year and a half ago.

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She says cooking over open fires has “completely destroyed my health,” pointing to chronic chest allergies and asthma she traces to inhaling smoke from a phosphorus bomb in 2008.

In January she was hospitalised for six days after suffering from oxygen shortage and doctors prescribed an oxygen cylinder she cannot afford.

Gaza faces a prolonged cooking gas and fuel shortage that has persisted since the start of the war and remained severe even after an October “ceasefire” that included provisions for fuel entry.

UN and Gaza officials say the quantities that have entered remain far below needs, with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs calling availability “critically constrained” and the limited quantities covering less than three percent of what is required.

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UN data indicates about 54.5 percent of households rely on firewood for cooking, roughly 43 percent burn waste or plastic, and only around 1.5 percent are able to cook with gas.

Humanitarian groups warn that these unsafe alternatives endanger health and the environment due to smoke and toxic fumes.

The shortage has intensified daily suffering, particularly during Ramadan, as families must prepare suhoor before the fast and iftar after.

“Gaza City, the Gaza Strip – Shortly before the call to sunset prayer, Islam Dardouna stretches her hand towards a pot hanging over a makeshift stove fashioned from a battered metal can, with scraps of paper and pieces of wood feeding the fire beneath it”

Al Jazeera

Firewood is expensive, lighting fires before dawn is difficult in poor conditions, and many households skip the pre-dawn meal.

Displaced families rely on ready-made meals from aid distributions and charity kitchens because of economic collapse and cooking difficulties.

Residents describe being covered in soot, skipping basic comforts like tea, and living “on the edge of nothing.”

Examples include Amani Aed al-Bashleqi, 26, who fears for her seven-month-old’s milk, and Iman Junaid, 34, who with her husband Jihad, 36, burns collected plastic bottles despite knowing the health risks because gas has been unavailable for months.

Gaza’s General Petroleum Authority warned of “catastrophic and dangerous consequences” from the halt in cooking gas supplies, saying the crisis directly affects the lives of more than two million residents.

The authority said Gaza faced a shortfall of about 70 percent of its actual gas needs compared with the quantities that entered after the “ceasefire” announcement.

Al Jazeera

It said the complete suspension of gas supplies threatens food and health security and called on mediators and international actors to intervene urgently.

Residents like Dardouna call for more than gas deliveries — they demand that “life become possible again,” urging that gas and goods enter at reasonable prices so basic necessities for a normal life can return.