RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Mohammad Zaino, an amateur bodybuilder from Rafah, has found a cheap alternative to the high-protein diet he needed but could hardly afford: the canned sardines the UN Works and Relief Agency for Palestine (UNRWA) distributes as food aid to poor families.
At 1.79 meters (5 feet 10 inches) and 58 kilos (128 pounds), Zaino’s gauntness was often a joke among his friends. So he started bodybuilding two years ago, only to discover that bulking up required a high-protein diet.