With food scarce in the besieged Gaza Strip, some desperate families have turned to eating sea turtles as a rare source of protein, AFP reports.

Once the shell has been removed, the meat is cut up, boiled and cooked in a mix of onion, pepper, tomato and spices.

“The children were afraid of the turtle, and we told them it tasted as delicious as veal,” said Majida Qanan, keeping an eye on the chunks of red meat simmering in a pot over a wood fire. “Some of them ate it, but others refused.”

For lack of a better alternative, this is the third time 61-year-old Qanan has prepared a turtle-based meal for her family who were displaced and now live in a tent in Khan Younis, southern Gaza largest city.

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