Life without refrigerators: Gaza residents fight heat and food spoilage

What the report says

Al Jazeera reported on July 24, 2026, that displaced families in Gaza are struggling to keep food, water and medicines usable during extreme summer heat because of prolonged power cuts and the lack of working refrigerators. The report, from Gaza City, describes Malak al-Zaanin, a displaced mother of four, trying to save leftover rice from a community kitchen inside a hot tent, while her unused refrigerator has become a surface for aid boxes and household items.

The article links the household crisis to the wider collapse of electricity and fuel access under Israel’s siege of Gaza. Al Jazeera cited earlier UN warnings that heat, power outages and absent refrigeration are raising the risk of spoiled food and food-borne illness, especially among displaced people. It also cited the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs as estimating that only 1 million litres of diesel entered Gaza in early June 2026, far below what is needed to sustain essential services.

Other residents described similar hardships. Manal Hamad, who has diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, said she needs refrigeration for medicine and sometimes pays others to cool food or medical supplies. In Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood, Nidal Rafeeh told Al Jazeera he uses his refrigerator as a cupboard and avoids cooking extra food because leftovers cannot be preserved.

The report also describes an emerging paid market for cooling and charging services. Mohammed al-Zaanin, displaced from Beit Hanoon, runs a generator-powered freezer and phone-charging service, but said fuel and electricity costs are high and demand exceeds what he can provide.