Dispatches From a Manmade Famine: Taqwa al-Wawi

Famine by Design

Empty shelves.
Canned food vanished—
hands reach for nothing.

In a world of full plates
and overflowing shelves,
a crumb of bread is rare.

What will we eat
when there is no food?

Silent stomachs growl
while hope fades.

Babies cry without sound—
no formula fills
their shrinking bellies.

Children die one by one,
starving and malnourished.

A boy holds a syringe,
counting insulin shots
that may never come.

Water drips from taps,
brown and bitter—
too dangerous to drink.
But people drink it anyway,
just to feel their stomachs full.

Old men sit outside,
their hands shaking
around empty cups.

Mothers trade last bread
for a single pill,
hoping it will save
a child’s failing heart.

This is hunger—
no accident, no mistake,
but a siege planned,
a slow, deliberate death.

We carry empty plates,
but eyes burning with truth.

We will not forget.
We will not forgive.

History will remember
the most merciless occupation
the world has ever witnessed.

Taqwa Ahmed al-Wawi is an aspiring writer, poet, and English literature student at the Islamic University of Gaza. Through her words, she strives to amplify Gaza’s voice and shed light on stories often left untold. Her writing has been featured by We Are Not Numbers (WANN), The Electronic Intifada, Mondoweiss, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, The Palestine Chronicle, The Markaz Review, Middle East Monitor, Al Jazeera, and Middle East Eye.

Artwork: “Everything I Entrust To My Lord” by Safia Latif.