‘You can see his bones': In Gaza, parents struggle against child starvation and Israeli war crimes denial

Middle East Eye

4 days ago

The photo of an 18‑month‑old Palestinian infant from Gaza, his body resembling a 'skeleton' with ribs and spine clearly visible, spread rapidly across the internet over the past week.
Widely shared by international media outlets, including the BBC, CNN and The New York Times, the image sparked global outrage.
It also created controversy. Israel and its supporters argued that the infant had 'pre‑existing health problems'.
That has been the basis of claims by supporters of Israel to claim that starvation in Gaza is a 'lie'.
Middle East Eye visited the child and his mother in their makeshift tent in western Gaza City.
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The child's mother Hidaya recalled her story from her home in a makeshift tent in what was once a wedding hall looking out to the sea.
'When the war on Gaza began, I was seven months pregnant with Muhammed,' she said, referring to her child, Muhammed Mutawwaq, whose image has become a symbol of the human cost of Israel's tactic of starving civilians.
'He was born in December 2023, at the height of the attacks and during the second month of the first starvation campaign.
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'When I gave birth to him, he suffered from a lack of oxygen that caused slight muscle weakness,' she added.
Despite those early issues, Muhammed was treated by a physiotherapist and showed promising signs of good health.
'He began showing remarkable improvements that the doctors were astonished by,' Hidaya said.
When Muhammed was two months old, Hidaya began to suffer from malnutrition and the child stopped breastfeeding on his own, and a new struggle began to get milk and baby formula.
'We managed to secure milk through hospitals during the first months and throughout the first starvation campaign.' Hidaya said.
'Back then, his father was still alive, he used to bring us milk before he was killed in an Israeli attack.
Muhammed's health was still slowly improving in this period and he was reaching a number of milestones.
'He even began to speak, saying 'amma' and 'abba',' Hidaya said, using the Arabic words for 'mummy' and 'daddy'.
He had even started crawling and standing by early 2025, but then the family were again forced out of Jabalia.
Since then, Muhammed's health has rapidly deteriorated.
His weight has fallen from nine kilograms to less than six, and the progress he had made in muscle strength and mobility has reversed.
Hidaya says her son, Muhammed Mutawwaq, can no longer hold his head up due to the effects of starvation (MEE/Hani Abu Rezeq)
'When I began noticing the changes in my son's body and face, I took him to several hospitals, but they told me his only treatment at that time was food,' Hidaya said.
'They said he needed proper nutrition.'
'A child like him needs milk, eggs, cheese, vegetables and fruits.
'But since he came into this world, he has never even known what fruit is. He came into life in the midst of starvation and deprivation of resources.'
'Severe acute malnutrition'
Doctors told Hidaya that Muhammed now suffers from severe acute malnutrition (SAM), the most severe form of malnutrition.
They warned that without urgent and consistent access to proper nutrition and medical care, his life will remain at constant risk.
But Hidaya has already begun noticing alarming changes in her toddler.
At the start of July, he was taken to hospital, where he was diagnosed with severe dehydration.
Israeli starvation death toll approaches 150 as formula shortage threatens babies in Gaza Read More »
'I reached a point where I thought he was dead. I used to press my head to his chest, hoping to hear his heartbeat. He wouldn't move, and he had severe diarrhoea.
'I believe he was poisoned by the unclean soup kitchen food we relied on as a substitute for proper meals,' Hidaya said.
Muhammed was taken to a hospital where he was diagnosed with dehydration and given medication that improved his health slightly.
Still, Hidaya was told by doctors that there would be no real improvement in his health until he had access to proper food.
Despite his vulnerability, the hospital discharged Muhammed so it could make room for other children.
Like Muhammed, hundreds of children are currently lying ill and famished in Gaza's hospitals, diagnosed with severe malnutrition.
According to Unicef, from the start of 2025 until May, an average of 112 children were diagnosed daily with acute malnutrition.
The UN agency reported that over 6,500 children were diagnosed with acute malnutrition in June, and 5,000 children received the same diagnosis in the first two weeks of July alone.
Widespread food insecurity
Unicef warned that the entire population of the Gaza Strip was food insecure, while all children under five, which amounts to more than 320,000 children, are at risk of becoming acutely malnourished.
'Muhammed learned to walk (but) now he can no longer even sit up on his own.
'He can't hold his head steady, and he barely moves his legs. Right now, he's barely able to move his arms,' Hidaya told MEE.
'If I hadn't seen him crawl and stand before, I might have thought his current condition was due to other health issues.
'If I hadn't seen him crawl and stand before, I might have thought his current condition was due to other health issues'
- Hidaya, mother of Muhammed Mutawwaq
'His condition was mild, and he was making progress. Only after we couldn't secure him milk and food did he start to deteriorate like this.'
Today, when Muhammed wakes Hidaya up crying for milk at night, she soothes him with water.
'There are days we go to bed without eating anything. Sometimes, we go four days in a row without food.
'There is no baby food, milk, or nutritional supplements available at all. And if they are found in the market, the prices are unimaginably high because they are very scarce,' she added.
'I became the sole provider for two children after my husband was killed, so it is incredibly difficult to afford food at such prices.
'My son has literally become a skeleton. You can see his bones, his ribcage, and his spine through his skin, all because of the lack of food.'
In addition to the struggle of securing milk, Hidaya now faces the challenge of finding nappies for her toddler, as Israel also blocks hygiene products from entering the besieged territory.
As a last resort, she uses plastic bags.
'I wrap him in two plastic bags to prevent leakage. You can imagine, in the blazing summer heat, especially while living in a tent, the pain this causes him, and the rashes and skin problems the nylon inflicts on a baby's sensitive skin,' she said.
'I don't know what kind of life he was brought into. I cannot even secure the bare minimum that the rest of the world takes for granted.
'The occupation is fighting us through starvation. They are fighting our children.'