In a small kitchen in al-Fawar — a village near Sidon, about 40 kilometers (24 miles) south of Beirut, Lebanon — a dozen women of all ages are cooking rice and chicken in large, gas-fueled pots. Among them, and overseeing every detail to ensure everything runs smoothly, is 42-year-old Zainab Jumaa, president of the Zaituna Association for Social Development.

The women are preparing meals to serve hundreds of displaced people from southern Lebanon, who were fleeing Israeli airstrikes and are now waiting anxiously for a comforting plate of Palestinian-style mansaf, made of rice, tender chicken, and fried pine nuts.

However, Zaituna can only serve food twice a week these days, as the organization's efforts to support displaced people depend on limited day-to-day funding.

"We started cooking every day at the beginning of the escalation of the war in September. But this week, unfortunately, we'll only be able to cook once or twice because we don't have many funds," Jumaa told DW.

The Lebanese Zaituna organization once focused on social projects in Sidon's Palestinian refugee camp Ein El Hilweh, and now temporarily provides food for an additional 150 displaced families fleeing Israel's war against Hezbollah's militia group in southern Lebanon.

One of them is the family of Ghada Al-Ghoul, 44, who fled the bombings to nearby Saida, where she's living together with her five children and 13 other refugees in a $500 (€464) per month apartment. She says she's struggling to buy food because all her money goes toward paying the rent and bills. "I don't know if or when I'll return. It will depend on the outcome of the American elections," she told DW.

For Zaituna, each 100-meal batch, feeding up to five people per meal, costs around $450, but low donations limit their efforts. Since 2006, the NGO is being supported by the South Korean nonprofit Nanum Munhwa, but finds it difficult to raise extra funding from other sources.

"Our work is much more stressful now, we're working under war conditions, with constant sonic booms from Israeli planes unsettling our volunteers and teachers. The pressure is intense, especially with limited funds to keep cooking daily. But we have the........

© Deutsche Welle