Gaza is a mirror reflecting the world's absolute shame: Opinion
She was four years old.
She died on the floor of a collapsing hospital, her tiny ribs rising and falling like wings too fragile to lift. Her body had no fat left to burn. Her eyes had sunken. Her voice - once a whisper of laughter - had long since vanished.
She did not die quickly. She died slowly.
She died watched by her mother, who begged her to hold on. Watched by a doctor who had no more syringes, no more saline, no more words, and by a world that tuned in - then turned away.
Her death was not a tragedy. It was a sentence, written not in haste, but in policy.
Razan is not alone. She is one of thousands.
Between March and June - well into the total blockade - the UN agency for Palestine refugees, Unrwa, screened over 74,000 children in Gaza. More than 5,500 were diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition. Over 800 were already critical.
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The National
2 hours ago
- The National
Gazans reduced to 'walking corpses' by food shortages, UNRWA chief says
Gazans have been reduced to "walking corpses" as food shortages push the territory towards starvation, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said on Thursday, after two more people died from malnutrition. The latest deaths brought the toll from starvation to 113, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Conditions inside the enclave have deteriorated sharply amid widespread acute hunger that has shocked the world. More than two million people are facing severe food shortages, with more than 100 NGOs warning that ' mass starvation ' is spreading. Israel has been accused of restricting the flow of aid but says Hamas is looting supplies and blocking distribution. "One in every five children is malnourished in Gaza city as cases increase every day," Mr Lazzarini said, citing UNRWA figures. He quoted a staff member working inside Gaza when he described Palestinians as "neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses". Most children that UNRWA teams encountered were emaciated, weak and at high risk of dying if they do not receive treatment urgently, he added. Parents were too hungry to care for their children and "families are no longer coping, they are breaking down, unable to survive". He called for unrestricted and uninterrupted humanitarian assistance, saying UNRWA has "the equivalent of 6,000 loaded trucks of food and medical supplies in Jordan and Egypt" waiting to go. The International Rescue Committee said it was "horrified" by the reports of starvation, calling for "full, unfettered humanitarian access". "Lives are hanging by a thread ... This is a man-made hunger crisis driven by severe restrictions and a near-total blockade on aid and goods. It is preventable and it must end," said Scott Lea, the IRC's acting country director in the Palestinian territories. There was no sign of a breakthrough in ceasefire talks as Israel recalled its negotiating team from Qatar. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's office said that "in light of the response Hamas provided this morning, it has been decided to return the negotiating team to continue consultations in Israel". The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, said all options remained on the table if Israel does not deliver on an agreement made with the bloc this month to improve conditions. International pressure on Israel to alleviate "unbearable" suffering in Gaza is set to increase at an upcoming conference in New York in support of a Palestinian state, the EU commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica has told The National. The EU deal includes a substantial increase in daily aid lorries entering Gaza, the opening of several more crossing points in both the north and south, and the reopening of Jordanian and Egyptian aid routes. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organisation, has said Gaza is 'witnessing a deadly surge' in malnutrition and related diseases, and that a 'large proportion' of its roughly two million people are starving. But Israel has denied it is blocking humanitarian aid, claiming that 700 truckloads were on the Gaza side of the border waiting for international organisations to collect and distribute the supplies. Israel also said it has allowed around 4,500 aid trucks into Gaza since lifting a complete blockade in May. The UN responded on Thursday by saying it did not know how many truckloads were awaiting distribution inside the Gaza border because Israel has not granted it access. "Despite our repeated requests, Israel has not allowed the UN to be present at the crossings, which are militarised areas," said Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA. "We therefore cannot verify the amount of supplies currently at the crossing," he added. Mr Laerke explained that the UN needed multiple authorisations from Israeli authorities: firstly to get aid across the border from Israel into Gaza, where it is dropped off, then a second permit for those trucks to return to Israel. A third approval was needed to drive more trucks from inside Gaza to the border areas to pick up the aid that was brought in. "It is very important to stress that it is not just about denials of requests to pick up the cargo," he said. "They must provide the green light for trucks without unnecessary delays, allow teams to use multiple, safer routes, and order troops to stay away from the convoys, and never shoot at civilians along the allocated routes - or anywhere else," Mr Laerke added. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the Palestinian people are facing the "greatest humanitarian catastrophe of our time", accusing Israel of a war crime. "How can the world abandon its humanity?" he pleaded. International news agencies AP, Reuters and AFP, as well as the BBC, said their reporters in the enclave were "increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families". They called on Israel to allow journalists freedom of movement in and out of Gaza. With the enclave sealed off, many media groups around the world depend on Palestinian reporters based in Gaza who are working for international news agencies. Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said this month that more than 200 journalists had been killed in the territory since the war began. Meanwhile, in Israel, the military said eight soldiers were wounded on Thursday when a driver deliberately rammed his car into a bus stop in what police called a "terror attack". The army said two soldiers were "moderately injured" and six "lightly injured" in the attack at the Beit Lid junction near Kfar Yona in central Israel. Police said they located the suspect's vehicle but were still searching for the perpetrator, who abandoned his car in the area. There has been a spate of violence in Israel and the occupied West Bank since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023. The war was sparked when Hamas attacked southern Israeli communities, killing 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage. Israel's response has been a devastating military campaign that has to date killed close to 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Most of Gaza's two million residents have been displaced by the war, more than once in many cases, and swathes of built-up areas have been reduced to rubble.
Middle East Eye
2 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Starvation in Gaza: Dizziness, fatigue and people collapsing in the streets
Akram Basheer's children cry out in hunger. All he can do is hold them and promise: one day, when the Israeli siege ends, you'll eat whatever you want. But the Palestinian father of three knows he's making a promise he can't keep. 'There's absolutely nothing I can do,' he told Middle East Eye. 'I just support them psychologically. I tell them, 'Insha'Allah [God willing], things will improve and food will become available.' There is no other option.' New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Living in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, Basheer, 39, spends each day searching for enough food to feed his children and elderly parents, whose health has sharply deteriorated. Like nearly all of Gaza's estimated 2.1 million population, he and his family have been starved under Israel's total blockade of the Palestinian enclave in place since March. Sometimes, Basheer's family manages to get a single meal. Often, not even that. 'A lot has changed in my children because of hunger,' he said. 'They're losing weight, oversleeping, struggling to focus. 'All day, they think about food, especially sweets. They tell us they're hungry all the time.' Even when Basheer can feed his children, the meals lack proper nutrition, leaving them still hungry. 'They never feel full. The food lacks nutritional value, it doesn't satisfy them,' Basheer said. 'Any small effort leaves us completely exhausted' - Akram Basheer, Palestinian father The adults are no better, he added. "We've all lost weight. Any small effort leaves us completely exhausted.' Still, Basheer believes he can manage to keep his children alive on whatever food he can find. It's his parents who worry him most. They are elderly and sick, with their father suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure. 'He's collapsed several times from dizziness and fatigue,' Basheer said. 'We have to watch him constantly. He fell recently and broke his hand. And with no milk, no eggs, no nutrition, it's hard for his bones to heal.' Months-long siege On 2 March, Israel completely sealed Gaza's borders, cutting off nearly all aid and supplies to Gaza, including basic food items, baby formula and drinking water. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) reported that as of May, around half a million people in Gaza were facing catastrophic hunger (IPC Phase 5). The situation has rapidly deteriorated since then, leaving the entire 2.1 million population of Gaza on the brink of famine. Gaza extermination: What is your last thought when you're starving to death? Read More » 'The crisis began when the occupation closed the crossings at the start of Ramadan, but it worsened to an unprecedented level a month and a half ago, when the stockpile we had stored ran out,' Basheer explained. 'Eventually, it couldn't last forever. We are a whole family with children who constantly need food, and the longer it lasts, the fewer basic food items we find.' For Basem Munir al-Hinnawi, the severe shortage of basic food items began weeks ago. Over the past month, he and his family have only been able to eat bread once every four or five days. He is the sole provider for two families since his father was killed at the beginning of the war "Now I support my mother, my sisters, and two brothers, in addition to my wife and one-year-old child,' the 32-year-old from Jabalia refugee camp told MEE. 'On the days we don't find bread, I sometimes buy the children a very small piece of shortbread cookies just to curb their hunger. 'And when lentils are available, we make lentil soup.' People collapsing Hinnawi says that during the early months of the blockade, the constant hunger was difficult enough. But in recent weeks, the physical toll of malnutrition has become increasingly 'unbearable,' leaving them weak, dizzy, and struggling to function. 'Lately, I have been suffering from extreme fatigue and cannot move easily. I'm constantly dizzy and severely emaciated. Since the beginning of the war, I have lost 39 kilograms. All of my siblings have lost between 15 and 20 kilograms,' he added. 'How could they understand that it's not us, their parents, who don't want them to eat?' - Munir al-Hinnawi, Palestinian father 'Every few days, we have to take my sister to the hospital after she passes out due to malnutrition, while my wife, who is breastfeeding, suffers from even more extreme fatigue, dizziness, and weakness. She can no longer manage any simple housework.' When Hinnawi manages to secure a small portion of food, they reserve it for the children. As for the adults, they survive on water and salt. 'I went to aid distribution points five times and failed to get any food every time. I was exposed to extreme danger, including gunfire from tanks and quadcopters,' he recalled. 'Every time, I returned empty-handed. By God, there were days when we adults went for four days without eating anything, only drinking water with dissolved salt,' he added. His mother, who suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure, can't walk 20 meters without collapsing. At least 113 Palestinians, including 81 children, have died of starvation since the Israeli war and siege on Gaza began in October 2023, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The ministry says it registered more than 28,000 cases of malnutrition, though the real figure is likely higher. Gaza: This 12-year-old dreams of combing her hair again after surviving an Israeli attack Read More » 'We adults can sometimes endure this hunger. But how can a small child understand that we are being deliberately starved?' Hinnawi added. 'How could they understand that it's not us, their parents, who don't want them to eat?' With basic food items vanishing from markets and families enduring days without enough to survive, scenes of people collapsing from hunger and sheer exhaustion have become increasingly common across Gaza's streets. 'Just yesterday, while I was walking through Sheikh Radwan, where I am currently displaced, a woman in her late 40s collapsed in the middle of the street from hunger,' Hinnawi recounted. 'People carried her and placed her by the sidewalk until someone came from their home with a spoonful of sugar, which is currently very scarce, and fed it to her. It slowly helped her regain consciousness and stand up. 'People are simply exhausted. Enough.'
Gulf Today
a day ago
- Gulf Today
Israeli forces kill over 1,000 aid-seekers in Gaza since May: UN
More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since May while trying to get food in the Gaza Strip, mostly near aid sites run by an American contractor, the UN human rights office said on Tuesday. More than 59,000 Palestinians have been killed during the war, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians, but the ministry says that more than half of the dead are women and children. The UN and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties. Meanwhile, Israeli strikes killed 25 people across Gaza, according to local health officials. Desperation is mounting in the Palestinian territory of more than 2 million, which experts say is at risk of famine because of Israel's blockade and nearly two-year offensive. A breakdown of law and order has led to widespread looting and contributed to chaos and violence around aid deliveries. Men walk carrying sacks of flour in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday. AFP Israel accuses Hamas of siphoning off aid - without providing evidence of widespread diversion - and blames UN agencies for failing to deliver food it has allowed in. The military says it has only fired warning shots near aid sites. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed American contractor, rejected what it said were "false and exaggerated statistics' from the United Nations. The Gaza Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, said Tuesday that 101 people, including 80 children, have died in recent days from starvation. The deaths could not be independently verified, but UN officials and major international aid groups say the conditions for starvation exist in Gaza. During hunger crises, people can die from malnutrition or from common illnesses or injuries that the body is not strong enough to fight. Israel eased a 2½-month blockade in May, allowing a trickle of aid in through the longstanding UN-run system and the newly created GHF. Aid groups say it's not nearly enough. Dozens of Palestinians lined up Tuesday outside a charity kitchen in Gaza City, hoping for a bowl of watery tomato soup. The lucky ones got small chunks of eggplant. As supplies ran out, people holding pots pushed and shoved to get to the front. Smoke rises after an explosion in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, on Tuesday. Reuters Nadia Mdoukh, a pregnant woman who was displaced from her home and lives in a tent with her husband and three children, said she worries about being shoved or trampled on, and about heat stroke as daytime temperatures hover above 90 F (32 C). "I do it for my children," she said. "This is famine - there is no bread or flour.' The UN World Food Program says Gaza's hunger crisis has reached "new and astonishing levels of desperation.' Ross Smith, the agency's director for emergencies, told reporters Monday that nearly 100,000 women and children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, and a third of Gaza's population is going without food for multiple days in a row. MedGlobal, a charity working in Gaza, said five children as young as 3 months had died from starvation in the past three days. "This is a deliberate and human-made disaster," said Joseph Belliveau, its executive director. "Those children died because there is not enough food in Gaza and not enough medicines, including IV fluids and therapeutic formula, to revive them.' Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians, including aid seekers, killed in Israeli attacks, according to medics, at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, on Tuesday. Reuters The charity said food is in such short supply that its own staff members suffer dizziness and headaches. Of the 1,054 people killed while trying to get food since late May, 766 were killed while heading to sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to the UN human rights office. The others were killed when gunfire erupted around UN convoys or aid sites. Thameen al-Kheetan, a spokesperson for the UN rights office, says its figures come from "multiple reliable sources on the ground,' including medics, humanitarian and human rights organizations. He said the numbers were still being verified according to the office's strict methodology. Palestinian witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces regularly fire toward crowds of thousands of people heading to the GHF sites. The military says it has only fired warning shots, and GHF says its armed contractors have only fired into the air on a few occasions to try to prevent stampedes. A joint statement from 28 Western-aligned countries on Monday condemned the "the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians.' Demonstrators hold signs, during a protest demanding an end to the war in Gaza and the release of all hostages, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Tuesday. Reuters "The Israeli government's aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,' read the statement, which was signed by the United Kingdom, France and other countries friendly to Israel. "The Israeli government's denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable.' Israel and the United States rejected the statement, blaming Hamas for prolonging the war by not accepting Israeli terms for a ceasefire and the release of hostages abducted in the fighter-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which triggered the fighting. Hamas has said it will release the remaining hostages only in return for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal. Israel says it will keep fighting until Hamas has been defeated or disarmed. Israeli strikes killed at least 25 people Tuesday across Gaza, according to local health officials. One strike hit tents sheltering displaced people in the built-up seaside Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, killing at least 12 people, according to Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties. The Israeli military said that it wasn't aware of such a strike by its forces. Israeli activists gather at HaBima Square for a protest march towards the Israeli defence ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv on Tuesday denouncing the ongoing food shortage and forced displacement of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. AFP The dead included three women and three children, the hospital director, Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, told The Associated Press. Thirty-eight other Palestinians were wounded, he said. An overnight strike that hit crowds of Palestinians waiting for aid trucks in Gaza City killed eight, hospitals said. At least 118 were wounded, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. "A bag of flour covered in blood and death," said Mohammed Issam, who was in the crowd and said some people were run over by trucks in the chaos. "How long will this humiliation continue?' The Israeli military had no immediate comment on that strike. Israel blames the deaths of Palestinian civilians on Hamas, because the fighters operate in densely populated areas. Israel renewed its offensive in March with a surprise bombardment after ending an earlier ceasefire. Talks on another truce have dragged on for weeks despite pressure from US President Donald Trump. Hamas-led fighters abducted 251 people in the Oct. 7 attack, and killed around 1,200 people. Fewer than half of the 50 hostages still in Gaza are believed to be alive. Associated Press
