'Walking corpses': Photos of malnourished Gaza toddler go viral as humanitarian situation worsens; see pics inside
A Gaza-based photographer has revealed the heartbreaking reality behind a viral image taken by him of a severely underweight child, captured amid the worsening humanitarian crisis in the territory.
Speaking to BBC Newshour, Ahmed al-Arini said he took the photograph to "show the rest of the world extreme hunger" affecting babies and children in the Gaza Strip.
While global food security experts have not formally declared a famine, United Nations agencies have warned that Gaza is in the grip of mass, man-made starvation. They cite Israel's control over the flow of supplies into the Palestinian enclave as the primary cause- a claim Israel strongly denies.
The Israeli government instead blames Hamas for malnutrition cases.
According to the UN's Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), around 20 per cent of children in Gaza City suffer from malnutrition, with the numbers growing daily. On Thursday, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini relayed a stark observation from a colleague, similar to the photographer's portrayal, - "People in Gaza are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses."
by Taboola
by Taboola
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links
Promoted Links
Promoted Links
You May Like
Paras Sector 59 Gurgaon | Luxury Awaits at Paras Floret
Paras The Florett
Book Now
Undo
Over 100 international humanitarian and human rights organisations have sounded the alarm on widespread hunger and urged immediate global intervention.
Israel, which oversees all crossings into Gaza, maintains it is not imposing a blockade and continues to hold Hamas accountable for food shortages. The UN, however, says the level of aid entering the strip is critically low and the hunger crisis is without precedent.
In a statement, Lazzarini said "more than 100 people, the vast majority of them children, have reportedly died of hunger." He added: "Most children our teams are seeing are emaciated, weak and at high risk of dying if they don't get the treatment they urgently need." He urged Israel to "allow humanitarian partners to bring unrestricted and uninterrupted humanitarian assistance to Gaza."
UNRWA staff themselves are increasingly struggling.
"When caretakers cannot find enough to eat, the entire humanitarian system is collapsing," Lazzarini said, adding that staff are "increasingly fainting from hunger while at work."
The World Health Organisation (WHO) echoed the warnings. On Wednesday, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, "I don't know what you would call it other than mass starvation — and it's man-made."
People of Gaza describe their living conditions
In northern Gaza, 40-year-old Hanaa Almadhoun described worsening conditions.
She told the BBC via WhatsApp, "If [food and supplies] do exist then they come at exorbitant prices that no ordinary person can afford." She explained that people had sold "gold and personal belongings" just to buy flour.
"Every new day brings a new challenge" as families scavenge for "something edible," she added. "With my own eyes, I've seen children rummaging through the garbage in search of food scraps."
During a visit to Israeli forces in Gaza on Wednesday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog insisted that his country was providing humanitarian aid "according to international law."
But aid worker Tahani Shehada, based in Gaza, described a different reality saying, "People are just trying to survive hour-by-hour. Even simple things like cooking [and] taking a shower have become luxuries." She added: "I have a baby.
He's eight months old. He doesn't know what fresh fruit tastes like."
In early March, Israel suspended aid deliveries to Gaza following a temporary ceasefire. Though some restrictions were later eased, shortages of food, fuel, and medicine have only deepened.
To streamline relief efforts, Israel and the United States established the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), but deadly incidents have continued. The UN human rights office reports that over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces while attempting to collect food aid in the last two months, according to BBC.
At least 766 of those deaths occurred near one of GHF's four distribution centres, operated by US private contractors inside Israeli military zones.
Another 288 were killed near UN and other aid convoys.
Israel maintains that Hamas incites disorder near aid convoys and insists that its troops fire only warning shots, avoiding civilian harm. The GHF has accused the UN of relying on "false" data from Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.
Najah, a 19-year-old widow sheltering at a Gaza hospital, said she fears for her life every time she attempts to reach an aid site. She told the BBC: "I hope they bring us something to eat and drink.
We die of hunger with nothing to eat or drink. We live in tents. We are finished off."
Dr Aseel, a physician working with a UK-based medical charity in Gaza, disputed the suggestion that famine is looming — saying it's already here. "My husband went once [to an aid distribution point] and twice and then got shot and that was it," she said. "If we are to die from hunger, let it be. The path to aid is the path to death."
Gaza market seller Abu Alaa described his family's daily struggle: "We go to bed hungry every night.
We are not alive. We are dead. We are pleading with the whole world to intervene and save us."
Meanwhile, Eight months pregnant with her third child, Walaa Fathi said Gaza is experiencing a level of deprivation few imagined possible. From Deir al-Balah, she told the BBC: "We are experiencing a catastrophe and a famine that no one could have imagined. I hope that my baby stays in my womb and I don't have to give birth in these difficult circumstances."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Mint
3 hours ago
- Mint
Deaf Palestinian uses social media to highlight Gazas struggles through sign language
(Refiles to correct byline) Alhabel uses sign language to raise awareness of Gaza's struggles Gazans feel unheard despite mass suffering and high death toll No ceasefire in sight as Israel plans to control Gaza City GAZA, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Basem Alhabel stood amongst the ruins of Gaza, with people flat on the floor all around him as bullets flew, and filmed himself using sign language to explain the dangers of the war to fellow deaf Palestinians and his followers on social media. Alhabel, 30, who describes himself as a "deaf journalist in Gaza" on his Instagram account, says he wants to raise more awareness of the conflict -- from devastating Israeli air strikes to the starvation now affecting most of the population -- by informing Palestinians and people abroad with special needs. Bombarded by Israel for nearly two years, many Gazans complain the world does not hear their voices despite mass suffering with a death toll that exceeds 60,000 people, according to Gaza health authorities in the demolished enclave. "I wished to get my voice out to the world and the voices of the deaf people who cannot speak or hear, to get their voice out there, so that someone can help us," he said through his friend and interpreter Mohammed Moshtaha, who he met during the war. "I tried to help, to film and do a video from here and there, and publish them so that we can make our voices heard in the world." Alhabel has an Instagram following of 141,000. His page, which shows him in a flak jacket and helmet, features images of starving, emaciated children and other suffering. He films a video then returns to a tent to edit -- one of the many where Palestinians have sought shelter and safety during the war, which erupted when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel in October 2023, drawing massive retaliation. Alhabel produced images of people collecting flour from the ground while he used sign language to explain the plight of Gazans, reinforcing the view of a global hunger monitor that has warned a famine scenario is unfolding. "As you can see, people are collecting flour mixed with sand," he communicated. Alhabel and his family were displaced when the war started. They stayed in a school with tents. "There was no space for a person to even rest a little. I stayed in that school for a year and a half," he explained. Alhabel is likely to be busy for some time. There are no signs of a ceasefire on the horizon despite mediation efforts. Israel's political security cabinet approved a plan early on Friday to take control of Gaza City, as the country expands its military operations despite intensifying criticism at home and abroad over the war. "We want this situation to be resolved so that we can all be happy, so I can feed my children, and life can be beautiful," said Alhabel. (Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
Indian Express
4 hours ago
- Indian Express
How an exhibition on textiles in the Capital points to self-reliance and reimagining nature's bounty
'What we call slow fashion is actually not slow, it is actually on time. These are processes in sync with nature,' says Shubhi Sachan, the curator of Weave the Future 2.0, an ongoing exhibition organised by the Ministry of Textiles to draw attention to Indian textiles and their links to nature and communities. For Sachan, who is the founder of the Material Library of India, a research firm dedicated to reimagining waste in India, the focus has always been on understanding specific regional nuances of weaving and textile in a landscape gearing towards the mass production of fast fashion. This philosophy reflects in the regenerative materials and native techniques used by the 30-odd brands at the exhibition, which started on August 7 on National Handlooms Day and is on till August 17 in the National Crafts Museum premises. One of the standouts at the exhibition is an installation by Kora Design Collaborative, a Hyderabad-based design and research organisation focusing on creating community-based projects in rural India. This installation showcases 12 native varieties of cotton seeds and traces their journey through the entire indigenous cotton processing cycle, from harvesting to seed separation to fiber cleaning and weaving. Poludas Nagendra Satish, who heads Kora collective, outlines the organisation's thought process: 'We isolate things when we look at our communities. They are all interlinked. And this leads to erasure of knowledge. At Kora, we help communities rediscover traditional skills and adapt them to today's needs by combining traditional craft techniques with simple, contemporary designs.' One of the projects undertaken by Satish and Kora is 'creating a desi cotton ecosystem' to bring back spinning and weaving to cotton-growing areas and to battle the perception that American cotton or genetically modified cotton is 'superior'. The idea, Satish explains in his blog, is to 'create a system where rural communities can process their cotton locally, without having to depend on external machinery, experts, or industries for their day-to-day needs. This ecosystem is rooted in the idea of self-reliance, where knowledge, tools, and resources stay within the community.' Collaboration and communication is key to this. Explains Satish: 'There is an interesting technique of (indigenous cotton) weaving that's still practiced in Bengal. We try to actually integrate all this. We brought this to Andhra, where we grow our own cotton. We are still using simple tools. We weave on a handloom. And you can clearly see the difference in the quality.' Kora also creates small-scale tools that could be used by individuals, whether it is a farmer, a weaver, or a home-based artisan — 'to spin and weave yarn for their own family's use or for local markets'. This year, Kora hand-crafted mini sample looms for a design school that were made by a small team of people from the Duggirala Village of Andhra Pradesh. Another example of Kora's work is in the Kothuru village of Andhra Pradesh. In collaboration with the Crafts Council of Andhra Pradesh, Kora helped the weavers use natural dyes, shift to cotton yarn, and experiment with new design patterns. For example, Kora sent the local artisans a design graph with three to four suggested colours. The artisans then sat together 'to discuss, and come up with two more colour variations' in the ikat wefts. The exhibition will also offer a soundscape installation by Sonam Khetan, capturing the disappearing sounds of the natural world as a result of human activities through the recordings of California based soundscape ecologist Bernie Krause. The show presents behind-the-scenes work by grassroots implementers such as Udaanta Trust, KORA Collective and Khamir, while brands such as Eka, Viraj Bhoomi and Lafaani have showcased their products as well. Alongside this is also another installation, which is an eco-printed panel, marked with petals and hand-appliqued dried flowers.
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
5 hours ago
- First Post
Starving in silence: Gaza's children die as the world watches
A global hunger monitor has warned of a famine scenario unfolding in Gaza, characterised by widespread starvation, deaths of children under five due to hunger-related causes and severely restricted humanitarian access read more Ibrahim al-Najjar, a Palestinian father in Gaza, is grappling with the devastating loss of his five-year-old son Naim to malnutrition. A year after Naim's death on March 28, 2024, al-Najjar is struggling to ensure his other children do not suffer the same fate, as malnutrition continues to ravage the Gaza Strip, which has faced nearly two years of displacement due to Israeli air strikes. The family's plight reflects the broader crisis in Gaza, where food consumption has plummeted and families are resorting to desperate measures to survive, according to a report in Asharq Al-Awsat. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Ashes and hunger Ibrahim al-Najjar mourns the loss of his five-year-old son Naim, who died from malnutrition. Al-Najjar is now focused on preventing his other children from suffering the same fate, particularly his 10-year-old son Farah, who has been falling unconscious and has lost significant weight over the past month. The Najjar family, like many in Gaza, has experienced a drastic decline in their living conditions since October 2023. Prior to the conflict, they had three meals a day, but now they struggle to find even basic foods like bread, rice, fruits, and vegetables. Naim's mother, Najwa, 40, expressed the dire situation, stating they are 'dying slowly' due to the lack of food and resources Adnan, Naim's 20-year-old brother, wakes up at 5:30 a.m. every day to search for food, navigating through the rubble-filled streets of Gaza to find a soup kitchen. The family's struggle to obtain even basic necessities like salt highlights the severity of the humanitarian crisis Amira Muteir, 32, a Palestinian mother, is struggling to care for her emaciated five-month-old baby, Ammar, who is suffering from severe malnutrition. She pleads for international assistance, stating that her baby endures many days without milk and is sometimes forced to drink polluted water due to the scarcity of clean water. Toll of hunger These are the stories of only a few. Malnutrition and starvation have claimed the lives of at least 193 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since the war began, including 96 children, according to the enclave's health ministry as of Wednesday. In the previous 24 hours alone, five more people died from these causes, underscoring the escalating crisis. The number of admissions for malnutrition nearly doubled between June and July, rising from 6,344 to 11,877, based on the latest UNICEF figures. This surge indicates a rapid deterioration in the nutritional status of the population, particularly among children. A global hunger monitor has warned of a famine scenario unfolding in Gaza, characteriaed by widespread starvation, deaths of children under five due to hunger-related causes and severely restricted humanitarian access. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that 81% of households in Gaza are experiencing poor food consumption, a significant increase from 33% in April. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Ceasefire deferred Amid the ongoing crisis, there is no immediate prospect of a ceasefire. Israeli tallies state that the conflict began after Hamas-led Palestinian militants killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages in its October 7 attack. Gaza health authorities report that Israel's military response has resulted in over 60,000 deaths and has left Gaza in ruins. Muteir and her family rely on a charity soup kitchen for a single small plate of food per day, which they ration throughout the day, highlighting the extreme scarcity and desperation faced by many families in Gaza.
