DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Every morning, Abeer and Fadi Sobh wake up in their tent in the Gaza Strip to the same question: How will they find food for themselves and their six young children?
The couple has three options: Maybe a charity kitchen will be open and they can get a pot of watery lentils. Or they can try jostling through crowds to get some flour from a passing aid truck. The last resort is begging.
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Fadi Sobh gives lentil soup to his children as they sit in their tent at a camp for displaced Palestinians in Gaza City, Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Abeer Sobh and her children carry water in plastic jerrycans after collecting it from a water truck in Gaza City, Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Abeer Sobh uses a feeding bottle to give water to her baby inside their tent at a camp for displaced Palestinians, where she and her family are sheltering in Gaza City, Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Malak Sobh, 7, searches through garbage for plastic to use as cooking fuel next to a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians, where members of the Sobh family are taking shelter, in Gaza City on Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Abeer and Fadi Sobh gather in their tent with their children at a camp for displaced Palestinians in Gaza City, Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
If those all fail, they simply don't eat. It happens more and more these days, as hunger saps their energy, strength and hope.
The predicament of the Sobhs, who live in a seaside refugee camp west of Gaza City after being displaced multiple times, is the same for families throughout the war-ravaged territory.
Hunger has grown throughout the past 22 months of war because of aid restrictions, humanitarian workers say. But food experts warned earlier this week the “worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in Gaza.”
Israel enforced a complete blockade on food and other supplies for 2½ months beginning in March. It said its objective was to increase pressure on Hamas to release dozens of hostages it has held since its attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Though the flow of aid resumed in May, the amount is a fraction of what aid organizations say is needed.
A breakdown of law and order has also made it nearly impossible to safely deliver food. Much of the aid that does get in is hoarded or sold in markets at exorbitant prices.
Here is a look at a day in the life of the Sobh family:
The family wakes up in their tent, which Fadi Sobh, a 30-year-old street vendor, says is unbearably hot in the summer.
With fresh water hard to come by, his wife Abeer, 29, fetches water from the sea.
One by one, the children stand in a metal basin and scrub themselves as their mother pours the saltwater over their heads. Nine-month-old Hala cries as it stings her eyes. The other children are more stoic.
Abeer then rolls up the bedding and sweeps the dust and sand from the tent floor. With no food left over from the day before, she heads out to beg for something for her family’s breakfast. Sometimes, neighbors or passersby give her lentils. Sometimes she gets nothing.
Abeer gives Hala water from a baby bottle. When she’s lucky, she has lentils that she grinds into powder to mix into the water.
“One day feels like 100 days, because of the summer heat, hunger and the distress,” she said.
Fadi heads to a nearby soup kitchen. Sometimes one of the children goes with him.
“But food is rarely available there,” he said. The kitchen opens roughly once a week and never has enough for the crowds. Most often, he said, he waits all day but returns to his family with nothing “and the kids sleep hungry, without eating.”
Fadi used to go to an area in northern Gaza where aid trucks arrive from Israel. There, giant crowds of equally desperate people swarm over the trucks and strip away the cargo of food. Often, Israeli troops nearby open fire, witnesses say. Israel says it only fires warning shots, and others in the crowd often have knives or pistols to steal boxes.
Fadi, who also has epilepsy, was shot in the leg last month. That has weakened him too much to scramble for the trucks, so he’s left with trying the kitchens.
Meanwhile, Abeer and her three eldest children — 10-year-old Youssef, 9-year-old Mohammed and 7-year-old Malak — head out with plastic jerrycans to fill up from a truck that brings freshwater from central Gaza’s desalination plant.
The kids struggle with the heavy jerrycans. Youssef loads one onto his back, while Mohammed half-drags his, his little body bent sideways as he tries to keep it out of the dust of the street.
Abeer sometimes heads to Zikim herself, alone or with Youssef. Most in the crowds are men — faster and stronger than she is. “Sometimes I manage to get food, and in many cases, I return empty-handed,” she said.
If she’s unsuccessful, she appeals to the sense of charity of those who succeeded. “You survived death thanks to God, please give me anything,” she tells them. Many answer her plea, and she gets a small bag of flour to bake for the children, she said.
She and her son have become familiar faces. One man who regularly waits for the trucks, Youssef Abu Saleh, said he often sees Abeer struggling to grab food, so he gives her some of his. “They’re poor people and her husband is sick,” he said. “We’re all hungry and we all need to eat.”
During the hottest part of the day, the six children stay in or around the tent. Their parents prefer the children sleep during the heat — it stops them from running around, using up energy and getting hungry and thirsty.
As the heat eases, the children head out. Sometimes Abeer sends them to beg for food from their neighbors. Otherwise, they scour Gaza’s bombed-out streets, foraging through the rubble and trash for anything to fuel the family’s makeshift stove.
They’ve become good at recognizing what might burn. Scraps of paper or wood are best, but hardest to find. The bar is low: plastic bottles, plastic bags, an old shoe — anything will do.
One of the boys came across a pot in the trash one day — it’s what Abeer now uses to cook. The family has been displaced so many times, they have few belongings left.
“I have to manage to get by,” Abeer said. “What can I do? We are eight people.”
After a day spent searching for the absolute basics to sustain life — food, water, fuel to cook — the family sometimes has enough of all three for Abeer to make a meal. Usually it’s a thin lentil soup.
But often there is nothing, and they all go to bed hungry.
Abeer said she’s grown weak and often feels dizzy when she’s out searching for food or water.
“I am tired. I am no longer able,” she said. “If the war goes on, I am thinking of taking my life. I no longer have any strength or power.”
Magdy reported from Cairo.
Fadi Sobh gives lentil soup to his children as they sit in their tent at a camp for displaced Palestinians in Gaza City, Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Abeer Sobh and her children carry water in plastic jerrycans after collecting it from a water truck in Gaza City, Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Abeer Sobh uses a feeding bottle to give water to her baby inside their tent at a camp for displaced Palestinians, where she and her family are sheltering in Gaza City, Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Malak Sobh, 7, searches through garbage for plastic to use as cooking fuel next to a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians, where members of the Sobh family are taking shelter, in Gaza City on Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Abeer and Fadi Sobh gather in their tent with their children at a camp for displaced Palestinians in Gaza City, Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal officer shot a person in the leg in Minneapolis after being attacked with a shovel and broom handle while trying to make an arrest Wednesday, federal officials said.
Smoke filled the street near the site of the shooting as federal officers and protesters squared off. A group of officers wearing gas masks and helmets fired tear gas and grenades into a small crowd while protesters threw snowballs and chanted, “Our streets.”
Such scenes have become common on the streets of Minneapolis since an immigration agent fatally shot Renee Good on Jan. 7. Agents have yanked people from cars and homes and been confronted by angry bystanders who bare demanding that officers pack up and leave.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement on the social media platform X that federal law enforcement officers stopped a person from Venezuela who was in the U.S. illegally. The person drove away and crashed into a parked car before taking off on foot, DHS said.
After officers reached the person, two other people arrived from a nearby apartment and all three started attacking the officer, according to DHS.
“Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired a defensive shot to defend his life,” DHS said.
The two people who came out of the apartment are in custody, it said.
The shooting took place about 4.5 miles (7.2 kilometers) north of where Good was killed.
Earlier Wednesday, a judge gave the Trump administration time to respond to a request to suspend its immigration crackdown in Minnesota, while the Pentagon looked for military lawyers to join what has become a chaotic law enforcement effort in the state.
“What we need most of all right now is a pause. The temperature needs to be lowered," state Assistant Attorney General Brian Carter said during the first hearing in a lawsuit filed by Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Local leaders say the government is violating free speech and other constitutional rights with the surge of law enforcement. U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez promised to keep the case “on the front burner” and gave the U.S. Justice Department until Monday to file a response to a request for a restraining order.
The judge said these are "grave and important matters,” and that there are few legal precedents to apply to some of the key points in the case.
Justice Department attorney Andrew Warden suggested the approach set by Menendez was appropriate.
The judge is also handling a separate lawsuit challenging the tactics used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal officers when they encounter protesters and observers. A decision could be released this week.
During a televised speech Wednesday evening, Gov. Tim Walz described Minnesota as being in chaos, saying what's happening in the state “defies belief.”
“Let’s be very, very clear, this long ago stopped being a matter of immigration enforcement," he said. "Instead, it’s a campaign of organized brutality against the people of Minnesota by our own federal government.”
Walz added that “accountability” will be coming through the courts.
The Department of Homeland Security says it has made more than 2,000 arrests in the state since early December and is vowing to not back down. The Pentagon is preparing to send military lawyers to Minneapolis to assist.
CNN, citing an email circulating in the military, says Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is asking the branches to identify 40 lawyers known as judge advocate general officers or JAGs, and 25 of them will serve as special assistant U.S. attorneys in Minneapolis.
Pentagon spokesperson Kingsley Wilson appeared to confirm the CNN report by posting it on X with a comment that the military “is proud to support” the Justice Department.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to emails from The Associated Press seeking more details.
It’s the latest step by the Trump administration to dispatch military and civilian attorneys to areas where federal immigration operations are taking place. The Pentagon last week sent 20 lawyers to Memphis, U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant said.
Mark Nevitt, an associate professor at Emory University School of Law and a former Navy JAG, said there's concern that the assignments are taking lawyers away from the military justice system.
“There are not many JAGs but there are over one million members of the military, and they all need legal support,” he said.
Jonathan Ross, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who killed Good, suffered internal bleeding to his torso during the encounter, a Homeland Security official told The Associated Press.
The official spoke to AP on condition of anonymity in order to discuss Ross’ medical condition. The official did not provide details about the severity of the injuries, and the agency did not respond to questions about the extent of the bleeding, exactly how he suffered the injury, when it was diagnosed or his medical treatment.
There are many causes of internal bleeding, and they vary in severity from bruising to significant blood loss. Video from the scene showed Ross and other officers walking without obvious difficulty after Good was shot and her Honda Pilot crashed into other vehicles.
She was killed after three ICE officers surrounded her SUV on a snowy street a few blocks from her home.
Bystander video shows one officer ordering Good to open the door and grabbing the handle. As the vehicle begins to move forward, Ross, standing in front, raises his weapon and fires at least three shots at close range. He steps back as the SUV advances and turns.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has said Ross was struck by the vehicle and that Good was using her SUV as a weapon — a self-defense claim that has been deeply criticized by Minnesota officials.
Chris Madel, an attorney for Ross, declined to comment on any injuries.
Good’s family, meanwhile, has hired a law firm, Romanucci & Blandin, that represented George Floyd’s family in a $27 million settlement with Minneapolis. Floyd, who was Black, died after a white police officer pinned his neck to the ground in the street in May 2020.
The firm said Good was following orders to move her car when she was shot. It said it would conduct its own investigation and publicly share what it learns.
“They do not want her used as a political pawn,” the firm said, referring to Good and her family, “but rather as an agent of peace for all.”
Waving signs reading “Love Melts ICE” and “DE-ICE MN,” hundreds of teenagers left school in St. Paul and marched in freezing temperatures to the state Capitol for a protest and rally.
The University of Minnesota, meanwhile, informed its 50,000-plus students that there could be online options for some classes when the new term starts next week. President Rebecca Cunningham noted that “violence and protests have come to our doorstep.” The campus sits next to the main Somali neighborhood in Minneapolis.
Associated Press reporters Julie Watson in San Diego, California; Rebecca Santana in Washington, D.C.; Ed White in Detroit; Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis; Graham Lee Brewer in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.
Federal immigration officers at the scene of a reported shooting Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A woman confronts a federal immigration officer at the scene of a reported shooting Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
People react after a firework was set off near the scene of a reported shooting Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Federal immigration officers shoot pepper balls as tear gas is deployed at the scene of a reported shooting Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Law enforcement officers stand amid tear gas at the scene of a reported shooting Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Federal immigration officers are seen Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Hundreds of protesters gather in front of the Minnesota State Capitol in response to the death of Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer last week, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Protesters gather in front of the Minnesota State Capitol in response to the death of Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer last week, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Protesters gather in front of the Minnesota State Capitol in response to the death of Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer last week, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Federal officers stand guard after detaining people outside of Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
People visits a makeshift memorial for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer last week, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A person is detained by federal agents near the scene where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer last week, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
