The UN’s World Food Program has provided food aid to 8,000 families in Gaza suffering from food insecurity, but is now suspending support due to budget cuts. As a result, many families in Gaza will go hungry.

As apartheid Israel’s siege of Gaza enters its 15th year, food sovereignty, climate justice and self-sufficiency have become central issues in the greater fight for justice and Palestinian liberation.

The Palestinian table is famous for its abundance, but Palestinian food sovereignty is under threat due to Israel’s system of settler-colonialism and apartheid.

Izzeldin Bukhari is a chef based in Jerusalem’s Old City who works to promote traditional Palestinian food, but the Israeli occupation makes obtaining locally-grown produce very difficult. “[Israeli is] trying to teach us to give up on being Palestinian. And we are saying ‘I can’t’. Simply, we can’t. It’s in our blood, it’s in our ancestors, it’s the history, the heritage. It comes with every muskhan dish I eat, with every hiwerina I eat, with every waraka dawali. And this is how we continue to be Palestinian.”