On a small table outside a tent in Deir al-Balah, 10-year-old Renad is making "Gaza-style white sauce pasta." She fills a pot with bottled water and lights a small propane burner. She has a fresh onion and a green pepper, but uses canned mushrooms for the sauce.
"It’s hard to get ingredients, it’s very expensive," she tells CTV News. "And some of the ingredients you can’t find."
Renad has a passion for food and is sharing her cooking videos on social media, a way to pass the time and keep her mind off the war. So far, she has 411,000 followers on Instagram.
"Right now, life is very difficult," she says through a translator. "I hope to be able to leave Gaza with my family and live a normal life. But that is expensive." A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family raise money to pay to leave the enclave.
One of the charities helping Renad find ingredients for her recipes is Human Concern International, the oldest Muslim relief organization in Canada.
"With people's donations, we are able to buy these goods," says Hassan Wadi, the charity’s global fund development director. "11 of our trucks have also entred (Gaza)," he says.
Wadi says he got in touch with Renad and her family after seeing her videos online.
"She's smiling and she's laughing and cooking in her pot, beside her tent," he says. "The least we can do is provide some hope."
At the beginning of the war, the house across the street from where Renad lived was bombed. Her sister says she saw the bodies of children scattered across the street, which caused "severe psychological disturbances." Since then, creating cooking content has been an escape.
And While her videos are bubbly and happy, the realities of war often creep in. As she was "unboxing" an aid package, a bomb can be heard exploding nearby.
"That's the typical life of anyone living in Gaza right now," says Wadi. "There are days they are not sleeping. There are days she can't sleep because you hear bombs in the sky not knowing whether one of those bombs will fall on where you are living," he says.
Renad says she is often scared, but is also hopeful. She dreams of one day being a famous chef "with more followers than I have right now." She also hopes for an end to the war.
"We dream to one day live in peace," she says.
It’s unclear when that peace may come, as ceasefire negotiations have stalled.
Last week, U.S. president Joe Biden presented the first phase of an Israeli proposal that would include a temporary six-week truce, but neither Israel nor Hamas have committed to anything. Officials are expected to be in Cairo and Qatar this week meeting with mediators.
