For Eid al-Fitr, Palestinian women in Gaza launch charity initiative to bake cakes for needy families

A group of Palestinian women in the besieged coastal enclave of the Gaza Strip recently launched an initiative to bake cakes for needy families ahead of the Eid al-Fitr festival, which will start on Friday.

Every day, about ten women gather in the Hope Institute for Orphans organisation in Gaza to prepare hundreds of kilos of cake to distribute to families in need. 

The initiative is sponsored by local businessmen and the Hope Institute for Orphans organisation to help needy families and their children enjoy the festival atmosphere during Eid al-Fitr.

"Because of poverty,  a lot of families cannot meet the needs of the feasts, including making cake and purchasing sweets and clothes. We decided to launch our initiative to bring joy to the needy families and their kids," said Maysoon Abdul Hady, one of the initiative's participants and 36-year-old mother of two, said to The New Arab.

"Cakes are one of the main dessert dishes on the Palestinian tables on Eid Al-Fitr, and they are served to family members and visitors. We are trying to keep our traditions alive and help needy families do so," Abdul Hady added.

Other volunteers like Wissam Awwad and Iman Shanino also expressed their happiness in their attempts to help families in dire economic straits.

As prices soar, Palestinians in Gaza prepare to celebrate Eid al-Fitrhttps://t.co/NgFQo65VGN

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) April 17, 2023

The initiative will produce about 500 kilograms of the cake, according to Iyad Al-Masri, executive director of the Al-Amal Institute for Orphans.

"We are currently making about 500 kilograms of Eid cakes to cover the largest number of poor families in our region and serve our people and support families who are unable to provide their costs in light of the difficult circumstances they are going through," Al-Masri added.

In Gaza, poverty rates among the local population reached 64 per cent, food insecurity rates rose to 70 per cent, and unemployment rates hit 50 per cent, according to official statistics issued by the Commerce Chamber in Gaza in 2023. 

The coastal enclave, home to more than 2.3 million people, has been under a tightened Israeli blockade since 2007, right after the Islamic Hamas movement, which won the legislative elections in 2006, seized the territory from the Palestinian Authority.

Additionally, Israel launched five large-scale military wars against the territory, killing thousands of Palestinians and destroying thousands of residential and governmental facilities.