Ahmed Muhanna – An artist drawing hunger and hope: 100 paintings from Gaza roam Europe to highlight the humanitarian crisis

Nearly two years of conflict and destruction caused an unimaginable suffering in Gaza. Today, more than half a million people face famine, need, and death. All Gaza population – whose number is more than two million – needs urgent humanitarian aid.

Behind the main headlines of the news, the life of its character is lost, steadfast and hope, which are often irreplaceable. To bring these stories closer to the European public, the World Food Program and the European Union are organized An artistic exhibition A mobile person reveals the human side of this crisis through the eyes of a person he lives every day. The exhibition highlights 100 paintings and drawing by the artist Ahmed Muhanna, and a profound personal perspective of Gaza.

Ahmed Muhanna is a painter born and brought up in Gaza, and he lived in it all his life and still lives there to this day. In addition to being an artist, he is also specialized in treating children through art, and helps them to overcome their shocks.

For several months, if the war was terrified between him and creativity, as his supplies were exhausted and had to focus on his family’s care. But his desire to document what he and his people live daily, led him to return to drawing again using any material he can find.

Thus, the World Food Cartoon boxes have become paintings used by Muhanna. These cartoon boxes, which were used to transfer food, converted them into a means of expression and a message at the same time, making them evidence of the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in the sector.

Muhanna began using a little coffee, tea and other materials for drawing and coloring after his supply was depleted. By this, the materials themselves have become an embodiment of the topics he draws: steadfastness, perseverance, and the will that is not broken to extract beauty from the folds of destruction. This mobile exhibition is the first time that its original works were displayed outside Gaza.

Constant conflict, the collapse of basic services, and strict restrictions caused the delivery and distribution of aid, in catastrophic circumstances throughout the Gaza Strip. Half a million Gaza population faces famine, while the rest of the population suffers from emergency levels of hunger.

Food aid is the only real way for most people inside Gaza to eat. The World Food Program has enough food in the region to fully feed the population for about three months, but the amount of food that has been delivered so far is not enough at all to prevent hunger and famine.

People die due to the lack of humanitarian aid. A ceasefire agreement is the only solution to ensure humanitarian aid reaching all the civilian population in Gaza, including biological foodstuffs and other relief supplies, in a regular, predictable way, organized, and safe, wherever they are in the Gaza Strip.

Partners, like the European Union, played a pivotal role in the World Food Program operations in Gaza. Since 2000, the European Union has provided humanitarian aid to the needy Palestinians, and supports those affected by emergencies and shocks, and its financing has significantly doubled since the start of hostilities in October 2023.

Thanks to donors like the European Union, the World Food Program can provide life -saving food aid to the Gaza population today, if aid is already allowed. Since the beginning of the conflict, the European Union – through the General Directorate of Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations – has contributed to 86 million euros in the program’s operations in Gaza.

The World Food Program continues its efforts to introduce food aid convoys to Gaza almost daily, but harsh operational conditions prevent the delivery of life -saving supplies on the required range to stop the escalating famine.

I wrote this article in English By colleagues in the World Food Program and we transferred it to the Arabic language.