Mohammed Al-Darbi tears up cardboard boxes to start a fire. His mother bakes flatbread in a makeshift oven. "We bake bread and eat it with spices. We have nothing else", she tells the German public media.
Today, at least they have flour to bake with. And the family's house in the western part of Gaza City appears to be untouched by the destruction, the report says.
A video goes around the world
A month ago, the 12-year-old boy became famous with a video - in it, Mohammed was filmed returning empty-handed from an aid distribution center, and after a journalist asked him how he was feeling, he started eating sand in front of the camera. "They gave me some flour, but thieves took it from me. I cried a lot because we have no flour and nothing to eat", the boy explained.
From hunger, despair and exhaustion, Mohammed fell ill: part of his lung was removed. People in Gaza suffer from the lack of affordable food: a kilo of tomatoes there would cost 25 euros, the report also says.
Aid is not enough and is distributed poorly
Very little humanitarian aid is still reaching the Gaza Strip, and what is delivered is not distributed in a coordinated manner. Photos show that more and more armed family clans are attacking the trucks.
The “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation“, which is supported by Israel and the US, distributes aid packages only in the southern and central parts of the coastal strip. The distribution centers open sporadically, and eyewitnesses claim that the Israeli army shoots at people seeking help almost every day. However, the army hardly comments on these cases, the ARD report further says.
Searching for food is a daily task
In the northern part of the strip, where Mohammed lives, there are small food distribution points run by local organizations. The 12-year-old's day is almost entirely spent searching for food and water. The boy hardly talks about anything else, he hasn't been to school for 21 months.
“The first thing we do is check if the soup kitchen is open. After I wake up, I bring water from a cistern and then I go to the kitchen with a pot. Sometimes I bring food, sometimes I don't. Then I play with friends, rest and sleep. And the next day it's all the same“, Mohamed tells ARD.
Mohamed Munzir Al-Darbi's father has a broken leg. So the task of going to the food convoys has been taken on by Mohamed. "I want the war to end, for the children to go back to school and have a happy life," says the father.
Plans for the time after the ceasefire
Hope for a ceasefire in Gaza is high, but many people do not believe that the war will end soon. Mohammed is still hopeful: "I will be very happy if that happens, because then I will be able to get food from the kitchen and water. I will be able to play and go wherever I want without being afraid of being shot".
The boy already has plans for the time after the ceasefire is declared: he wants to go to the doctor to get medicine for his father. And, of course, food and water.
Author: Björn Dacke ARD