Palestinian Community Kitchen – Providing Meals for the Need

Have you ever raced against time to feed someone before they die of hunger?

We have.

My name is Ahmad Al-Gharabli, and I’m writing to you from northern Gaza, where my family, neighbors, and I are living through the worst humanitarian crisis we’ve ever known. The siege is suffocating, famine is spreading faster than any disease, and children are going to bed with empty stomachs and no promise of food tomorrow.

In the face of this devastation, my friend Abdulsalam and I decided we couldn’t just watch people suffer. We had no resources and no international support—only pure intentions and a few donations sent by friends abroad. So we started a small soup kitchen in the rubble of a destroyed home. There’s no electricity. No gas. Just firewood and cardboard to make hope boil in the pots.

On the first day, Abdulsalam risked his life under shelling, walking for hours to reach distant farms in hopes of finding leftover vegetables. He came back with two cans of tomato paste and a few onions. I searched the market ruins for lentils or rice and met an elderly woman who gave me a small bag of flour she had been saving for her own children. She said: "Take it. Cook for the people. God will feed us together."

The next day, we cooked a single pot of soup and fed 60 families. It wasn’t much, but it saved children from the brink of starvation. Soon, word spread—and the lines grew longer. We started cooking from dawn till night, and we shared every meal like one big family.

Today, thanks to God and a few generous supporters, we were able to cook two large pots of peas and one pot of rice, feeding more than 200 people in northern Gaza. We saw tears in the eyes of mothers. We heard their heartfelt prayers. And we knew this work—dangerous as it is—is worth every second and every ounce of effort.

The danger follows us constantly. One time, Abdulsalam was nearly hit by a missile while gathering firewood. Another time, a shell landed near our kitchen, sending the pot lid flying into the air. But the next morning, he returned and said, “If we die feeding the hungry, at least we tried with honor.”

We don’t have support from big organizations. We survive on small donations from people like you. Just $5 can provide a hot meal for an entire family in a place where hunger is being used as a weapon.

In northern Gaza, no one is safe—and no one is full. But we are determined to be a small light in this overwhelming darkness, as long as we are able.

We invite you to be part of that light—with your prayers, your donation, or by sharing our story.

Your donation today could be the reason a family survives tomorrow