Families in Gaza eating grass and animal feed as doctors witness record levels of malnutrition
Doctors in the Gaza Strip are witnessing and recording the highest levels ever of malnutrition in the territory. Acute levels of malnourishment are being seen in children and in pregnant women.
Humanitarian and medical organisations held an emergency press briefing this afternoon to brief the world's media on what they are witnessing in Gaza, which has been blockaded from receiving aid by Israel.
Bushma Khalidi, Oxfam's head of policy for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, whose family are currently in Gaza, said: 'People are
eating animal feed. They're boiling grass
.'
'Families are slaughtering their horses – something unimaginable in our culture, something sacred – just to feed their children.
We've seen people catching turtles from sewage-contaminated shores to cook and survive.
'Even my own family in Gaza, my brother-in-law Hassan, told me the children are dizzy most of the day. This is not because they are sick, but because they're hungry. This is how deep this has gone,' Khalidi said.
A man in Northern Gaza grounds lentils as a replacement for flour in order to make bread for his family, image taken on 11 May,
Alamy
Alamy
Mahmoud Isleem of French medical organisation Médecins du Monde's (MDM) Palestine, which operates eight clinics in Gaza, said the level of malnutrition his organisation is seeing is unprecedented.
One in four children are now presenting to clinics with evidence of malnutrition, as of last month. Isleem said the levels of malnutrition his organisation has recorded in Gaza can be compared with countries which have been suffering from the issue for decades.
Photo of a baby suffering from malnutrition, taken in Gaza on 5 May. One in four children are presenting with malnutrition in Gaza.
Alamy
Alamy
On 2 March, Israel
formally began a full-scale blockade on Gaza's access to food, water, fuel, medicine
and other key humanitarian aid supplies. The UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said this week that Gaza is
at risk of a food crisis 'or worse' by September
.
There is now a 'critical risk of famine', according to the global hunger monitor's latest report.
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Israel's bombardment of Gaza continues. Israel plans to
scale up a 'full force' offensive on Gaza in the coming days
.
'Total collapse of dignity'
Dr Mike Ryan, the executive director of the World Health Organization's emergency programme, said
in an emotional speech in Switzerland at the beginning of this month that the children of Gaza are 'starving'
.
Oxfam's Khalidi said today that Israel's actions represent a 'total disregard for humanitarian norms'.
Photo taken today, 14 May, after continued Israeli bomb strikes resulted in the death of civilians, including children, in Northern Gaza.
Alamy
Alamy
'This isn't just a crisis – it's a collapse. It's a collapse of basic survival. It's a collapse of dignity. It's a collapse of the international order,' Khalidi said.
We've called repeatedly for a permanent ceasefire, repeatedly for full and unimpeded access and repeatedly for respect of international law, yet what we're seeing the opposite.'
Families eating 'rancid' food
Soraya Ali, Global Media Manager at international charity Save the Children, said Israel's blockade on Gaza has reduced life in the territory to an 'inhumane nightmare'.
She said families are forced to eat 'rancid food' to avoid hunger, and the most basic medical care is not available as Israel's blockade enters its 73rd day.
Ali said: 'The humanitarian situation is the worst it has ever been. People continue to be displaced. They're being bombed and killed by bombs. Starved.'
Trucks stopped at the border between Egypt and Gaza after 2 March after Israel launched its full blockade.
Alamy, file
Alamy, file
Doctors without Borders (MSF) today urged the UN and the EU to use their political and economic leverage to stop the 'instrumentalisation of aid' by Israel.
'We are witnessing, in real time, the creation of conditions for the eradication of Palestinian lives in Gaza,' the medical aid agency said.
It added: 'The obstruction of humanitarian aid is a direct violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2720, which calls for the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians.
Israel's claims that aid is being diverted by Hamas 'remain unverified and in no way justify such measures', MSF said.
'As the occupying power, Israel must facilitate impartial humanitarian assistance for the population in need,' it added.
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Irish Examiner
13 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Dozens killed seeking aid in Gaza as Israel considers further military action
At least 38 Palestinians were killed overnight and into Wednesday in the Gaza Strip while seeking aid from United Nations convoys and sites run by an Israeli-backed American contractor, according to local health officials. The Israeli military said it had fired warning shots when crowds approached its forces. The latest deaths came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected to announce further military action – and possibly plans for Israel to fully reoccupy Gaza. Trucks carrying humanitarian aid line up as they wait to enter the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip (Khaled Elfiqi/AP) Experts say Israel's ongoing military offensive and blockade are already pushing the territory of some two million Palestinians into famine. Another escalation of the nearly 22-month war could put the lives of countless Palestinians and around 20 living Israeli hostages at risk, and would draw fierce opposition both internationally and within Israel. Mr Netanyahu's far-right coalition allies have long called for the war to be expanded, and for Israel to eventually take over Gaza, relocate much of its population and rebuild Jewish settlements there. US President Donald Trump, asked by a reporter on Tuesday whether he supported the reoccupation of Gaza, said he was not aware of the 'suggestion' but that 'it's going to be pretty much up to Israel'. At least 28 Palestinians were killed overnight and into Wednesday in the Morag Corridor, an Israeli military zone in southern Gaza where UN convoys have been repeatedly overwhelmed by looters and desperate crowds in recent days, and where witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire. The Israeli military said troops fired warning shots as Palestinians advanced towards them, and that it was not aware of any casualties. Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies, said another four people were killed in the Teina area, on a route leading to a site in southern Gaza run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an American contractor. The Al-Awda Hospital said it received the bodies of six people killed near a GHF site in central Gaza. People inspect the damage at the Sheikh Radwan al-Taba UNRWA clinic following an Israeli army bombardment in Gaza City (Jehad Alshrafi/AP) Another 12 people were killed in Israeli air strikes, according to the two hospitals. The GHF said there were no violent incidents at or near its sites. The military says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames their deaths on Hamas because its militants are entrenched in heavily populated areas. Israel facilitated the establishment of four GHF sites in May after blocking the entry of all food, medicine and other goods for two-and-a-half months. 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Palestinians at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City mourn their relative who was killed while trying to reach aid trucks entering the northern Gaza Strip through the Zikim crossing with Israel (Jehad Alshrafi/AP) Jordanian government spokesperson Mohammed al-Momani condemned the attack, which he said had shattered the windscreens of the trucks, according to the Jordanian state-run Petra News Agency. The Israeli military said security forces went to the scene to disperse the gathering and accompanied the trucks to their destination. Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the October 7 attack and abducted another 251. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals. Of the 50 still held in Gaza, around 20 are believed to be alive. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians but says around half were women and children. 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Sunday World
3 days ago
- Sunday World
At least 40 more people killed by Israeli Army in Gaza, some while seeking aid
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RTÉ News
3 days ago
- RTÉ News
40 Gazans killed while seeking aid and from hunger, say health officials
At least 40 Palestinians have killed by Israeli gunfire and airstrikes on Gaza, including 10 seeking aid, health authorities have said, adding that another five had died of starvation in what humanitarian agencies warn may be an unfolding famine. The 10 died in two separate incidents near aid sites belonging to the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in central and southern Gaza, local medics said. The United Nations says more than 1,000 people have been killed trying to receive aid in the enclave since the GHF began operating in May 2025, most of them shot by Israeli forces operating near GHF sites. "Everyone who goes there, comes back either with a bag of flour or carried back (on a wooden stretcher) as a martyr, or injured. No one comes back safe," said 40-year-old Palestinian Bilal Thari. He was among mourners at Gaza City's Al Shifa hospital who had gathered to collect the bodies of their loved ones killed a day earlier by Israeli fire as they sought aid, according to Gaza's health officials. At least 13 Palestinians were killed yesterday while waiting for the arrival of UN aid trucks at the Zikim crossing on the Israeli border with northern Gaza, the officials added. At the hospital, some bodies were wrapped in thick patterned blankets because white shrouds, which hold special significance in Islamic burials, were in short supply due to continued Israeli border restrictions and the mounting number of daily deaths, Palestinians said. "We don't want war, we want peace, we want this misery to end. We are out on the streets, we all are hungry, we are all in bad shape, women are out there on the streets, we have nothing available for us to live a normal life like all human beings, there's no life," Mr Thari told Reuters. There was no immediate comment by Israel on the incidents of shootings yesterday and today. Israel blames Hamas for the suffering in Gaza and says it is taking steps for more aid to reach its population, including pausing fighting for part of the day in some areas, air drops, and announcing protected routes for aid convoys. Meanwhile, five more people died of starvation or malnutrition over the past 24 hours, Gaza's health ministry said. The new deaths raised the toll of those dying from hunger to 180, including 93 children, since the war began. UN agencies have said that airdrops of food are insufficient and that Israel must let in far more aid by land and quickly ease access to it. COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, said that during the past week, over 23,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid in 1,200 trucks had entered Gaza but that hundreds of the trucks had yet to be driven to aid distribution hubs by UN and other international organisations. The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said yesterday that more than 600 aid trucks had arrived since Israel eased restrictions late in July. However, witnesses and Hamas sources said many of those trucks have been looted by desperate displaced people and armed gangs. Palestinian and UN officials said Gaza needs around 600 aid trucks to enter per day to meet the humanitarian requirements-the number Israel used to allow into Gaza before the war. The Gaza war began when Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostage in an attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, according to Israeli figures. Israel's offensive has since killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.
