Cooking videos got these Gazans a global following. Now, there鈥檚 nothing to eat.
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Ghada Abdulfattah Special contributor
| Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip
For more than a year, Renad Attallah鈥檚 Instagram cooking tutorials offered an unusual window into life in the Gaza Strip.
On , the giggly 11-year-old explained to her 1.6 million followers how to cook hamburgers with canned meat from an aid parcel. In another video, she quipped at the drones buzzing overhead as she explained how to 鈥渢he Gazan way.鈥�
鈥淚t looks like the drone above us likes cream 鈥� that鈥檚 why it鈥檚 out!鈥� she joked. As basic ingredients became increasingly scarce in Gaza, Renad improvised, to make bread.
Why We Wrote This
Their Instagram accounts became globally popular for showing the creative ways Palestinians in Gaza cooked and ate in a time of war. But as hunger spread, the story they were sharing began to change.
But Renad鈥檚 popularity isn鈥檛 due only to her made-for-social-media cuteness. With foreign media excluded from Gaza, and local journalists regularly killed in the line of duty, social media has become one of the few windows still cracked open onto life in the besieged territory. Through the eyes of Renad and other content creators, the conflict鈥檚 devastating effects on civilians play out in real time.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not about views. It鈥檚 not about comments,鈥� Renad says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about the truth of our lives.鈥�
鈥淭he Gazan way鈥�
And the truth now is that Palestinians in Gaza are starving. In late August, United Nations agencies warned that in Gaza are facing a hunger crisis, and 1 in 3 will experience famine 鈥� meaning 鈥渃atastrophic conditions characterized by starvation, destitution and death鈥� 鈥� by the end of September.
鈥淭his famine is entirely man-made,鈥� the U.N.-backed report said.
On Instagram, Renad鈥檚 followers watched Gaza鈥檚 hunger crisis unfold on a human level. Her round cheeks thinned as she dropped more than 10 pounds. Dark circles bloomed around her eyes.
鈥淔amine bread, the Gazan way,鈥� she announced at the beginning of a recipe tutorial in early June,
The video was a far cry from the spunky early posts on @renadfromgaza. Renad and her older sister, pharmacist Nourhan Attallah, started the page together in March 2024, after a video showing Ms. Attallah鈥檚 personal account of Renad from the United Arab Emirates got more than 9 million views.
With Ms. Attallah behind the camera, the sisters made videos of Renad cooking and 鈥渦nboxing鈥� aid parcels, a riff on influencers elsewhere in the world who film themselves opening their online purchases.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 talk because of excitement,鈥� Renad exclaimed in as she sliced open the tape on a box from the charity Human Concern International. As she lifted a bag of meat slices from the parcel, an explosion sounded in the distance. Renad flinched, and then continued to gleefully pull items from the box.
A global language
Hamada Shaqura also knew how to catch the eye of faraway viewers. Before the war, he owned a marketing agency and used his Instagram account to promote Gaza City鈥檚 thriving food scene. As he sampled local taco joints and filmed families tucking into pizzas and burgers, Mr. Shaqura鈥檚 page offered a glimpse of a city vibrant despite years of Israeli blockade.
Food is 鈥渁 universal language of expression,鈥� he says.
In early 2024, he began posting his own wartime cooking tutorials using ingredients sourced from aid parcels. The clips were wordless, but like Renad鈥檚, they spoke a global language.
Mr. Shaqura鈥檚 videos featured quick cuts of him preparing a dish, the amplified sounds of his chopping, pouring, and sizzling creating a popular . He, too, soon went viral, becoming known for his unbroken, somber gaze and creative takes on international dishes such as tacos, pizza, and crepes.
At first, he shared his culinary creations with children at a makeshift camp in Rafah, near where his own family was living after fleeing their home in Gaza City.
But as his Instagram following grew, Mr. Shaqura connected with local and international charities providing food to displaced people. Soon, his videos showed him preparing meals for those in need.
鈥淲hat made it meaningful was feeding people,鈥� he says. 鈥淪eeing that others could eat because of my cooking, it gave value to everything.鈥�
Documenting hunger
As the war ground on, however, posting about food slowly began to lose its joy for both Renad and Mr. Shaqura. They themselves rarely had enough to eat, and when they did, it felt crass to flaunt what they had while others around them starved. 鈥淚t wouldn鈥檛 be right,鈥� Renad says simply.
After she posted her 鈥淔amine Bread鈥� video in early June, she did not make ann more recipe tutorials. Instead, she began sharing posts with titles like 鈥溾�� and 鈥�.鈥�
Mr. Shaqura, too, has largely stopped updating his account. 鈥淚t is impossible now,鈥� he explains. 鈥淚 cannot cook for others when I struggle to find food for my wife and child.鈥� Even when he has donations, he says, he is afraid to distort the already exorbitant prices in local markets by buying up large quantities. That 鈥渨ould harm the whole community,鈥� he says.
But not being able to cook for children weighs heavily on him. 鈥溾�嬧�婥ooking a meal for a child who has nothing is about more than food,鈥� Mr. Shaqura in Time Magazine. 鈥淚t is about telling them that they matter and that they are not forgotten.鈥�
Meanwhile, Renad鈥檚 life was changing quickly. Her elder sister won a scholarship to study at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, and at the end of August, she, Renad, and Renad鈥檚 twin brother Adam were evacuated from Gaza.
On Renad鈥檚 Instagram page, the sisters made a new post.
It was a solid black background with a single word: 鈥淕oodbye.鈥�
