Doctors can't help as children starve to death in Gaza
The deaths of five young children over four days are the first seen by the Patient's Friends hospital in children who had no pre-existing medical conditions.
Symptoms are getting worse, with children too weak to cry or move, said Dr. Rana Soboh, a nutritionist.
"There are no words in the face of the disaster we are in. Kids are dying before the world ... There is no uglier and more horrible phase than this," said Soboh, who works with the US-based aid organisation Medglobal, which supports the hospital.
This month, the hunger that has been building among Gaza's more than 2 million Palestinians passed a tipping point into accelerating death, aid workers and health staff say. Not only children — usually the most vulnerable — are falling victim under Israel's blockade since March, but also adults.
In the past three weeks, at least 48 people died of causes related to malnutrition, including 28 adults and 20 children, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Thursday. That's up from 10 children who died in the five previous months of 2025, according to the ministry.
The UN reports similar numbers. The World Health Organisation said on Wednesday it has documented 21 children under 5 who died of causes related to malnutrition in 2025. At least 13 children's deaths were reported in July, with the number growing daily.
"Humans are well developed to live with caloric deficits, but only so far," said Dr. John Kahler, Medglobal's co-founder and a pediatrician who volunteered twice in Gaza during the war. "It appears that we have crossed the line where a segment of the population has reached their limits"
"This is the beginning of a population death spiral," he said.
The UN's World Food Program says nearly 100,000 women and children urgently need treatment for malnutrition. Medical workers say they have run out of many key treatments and medicines.
Israel, which began letting in only a trickle of supplies the past two months, has blamed Hamas for disrupting food distribution. The UN counters that Israel, which has restricted aid since the war began, simply has to allow it to enter freely.
The Patient's Friends Hospital overflows with parents bringing in painfully thin children – 200 to 300 cases a day, said Soboh.
Hunger gnaws at staff as well. Soboh said two nurses put themselves on IV drips to keep themselves going. "We are exhausted. We are dead in the shape of the living," she said.
In the Shati Refugee Camp in Gaza city, 2-year-old Yazan Abu Ful's mother, Naima, pulled off his clothes to show his emaciated body. His vertebrae, ribs and shoulder-blades jutted out. His face was expressionless.
His father Mahmoud, who was also skinny, said they took him to the hospital several times. Doctors just say they should feed him. "I tell the doctors, 'You see for yourself, there is no food,'" he said,
On Tuesday, David Mencer, spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister's office, denied there is a "famine created by Israel" in Gaza and blamed Hamas for creating "man-made shortages" by looting aid trucks.
The UN denies Hamas siphons off significant quantities of aid. Humanitarian workers say Israel just needs to allow aid to flow in freely, saying looting stops whenever aid enters in large quantities.
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SBS Australia
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News.com.au
2 hours ago
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The Advertiser
6 hours ago
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Thousands of Gazans gathered in locations where they expect aid trucks to roll through on Sunday, Reuters witnesses and locals said. Dozens of Gazans have died of malnutrition in recent weeks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. The Gaza health ministry reported six new deaths in the past 24 hours due to malnutrition, bringing the total number of deaths from malnutrition and hunger to 133, including 87 children. The Egyptian Red Crescent said it was sending more than 100 trucks carrying 1200 metric tons of food aid to southern Gaza on Sunday through the Kerem Shalom crossing. Hours earlier, Israel began aid airdrops in what it said was an effort to ease the humanitarian conditions in the enclave. Aid groups said last week there was mass hunger among Gaza's 2.2 million people and international alarm over the humanitarian situation in Gaza has increased, driving French President Emmanuel Macron's decision to recognise a Palestinian state in September. The UN said last week humanitarian pauses in military activity would allow "the scale up of humanitarian assistance", adding that Israel had not been providing enough route alternatives for its convoys, hindering aid access. Israel, which cut off the aid flow to Gaza from the start of March and reopened it with new restrictions in May, says it is committed to allowing in aid but must control it to prevent it from being diverted by militants. It says it has let enough food into Gaza during the war and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza's people. Israel and the US appeared on Friday to abandon ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, saying it had become clear the militants did not want a deal. Many Gazans expressed tentative relief about Sunday's announcement, but said the fighting must end permanently. Others voiced concern about how aid would be delivered and whether it would reach people safely. Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir criticised the aid decision, which he said was made without his involvement on Saturday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence officials. "This is a capitulation to Hamas' deceitful campaign," he said in a statement, repeating his call to choke off all aid to Gaza, conquer the territory and encourage its Palestinian population to leave. He stopped short of threatening to quit the government. A spokesperson for Netanyahu did not immediately respond to a question about Ben-Gvir's comments. After letting in aid in May, Israel said there was enough food in Gaza but that the UN was failing to distribute it. The UN said it was operating as effectively as possible under Israeli restrictions. The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters stormed southern Israel, killing some 1200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza. Since then, Israel's offensive against Hamas has killed almost 60,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, reduced much of the enclave to ruins and displaced almost the entire population. Israel says it will halt military operations each day for 10 hours in parts of Gaza and allow new aid corridors in the shattered enclave, where images of hungry Palestinians have alarmed the world. Military activity will stop from 10am to 8pm local time (0700-1700 GMT) until further notice in Al-Mawasi - a designated humanitarian area that stretches along the coast - in central Deir al-Balah and Gaza City to the north. The military said designated secure routes for convoys delivering food and medicine will also be in place between 6am and 11pm from Sunday. United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher said staff would step up efforts to feed the hungry during the pauses in the designated areas. "Our teams on the ground ... will do all we can to reach as many starving people as we can in this window," he said in a post on X. Health officials at Al-Awda and Al-Aqsa Hospitals in the central Gaza Strip said Israeli firing killed at least 17 people and wounded 50 people waiting for aid trucks on Sunday. A spokesperson for Israel's military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Thousands of Gazans gathered in locations where they expect aid trucks to roll through on Sunday, Reuters witnesses and locals said. Dozens of Gazans have died of malnutrition in recent weeks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. The Gaza health ministry reported six new deaths in the past 24 hours due to malnutrition, bringing the total number of deaths from malnutrition and hunger to 133, including 87 children. The Egyptian Red Crescent said it was sending more than 100 trucks carrying 1200 metric tons of food aid to southern Gaza on Sunday through the Kerem Shalom crossing. Hours earlier, Israel began aid airdrops in what it said was an effort to ease the humanitarian conditions in the enclave. Aid groups said last week there was mass hunger among Gaza's 2.2 million people and international alarm over the humanitarian situation in Gaza has increased, driving French President Emmanuel Macron's decision to recognise a Palestinian state in September. The UN said last week humanitarian pauses in military activity would allow "the scale up of humanitarian assistance", adding that Israel had not been providing enough route alternatives for its convoys, hindering aid access. Israel, which cut off the aid flow to Gaza from the start of March and reopened it with new restrictions in May, says it is committed to allowing in aid but must control it to prevent it from being diverted by militants. It says it has let enough food into Gaza during the war and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza's people. Israel and the US appeared on Friday to abandon ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, saying it had become clear the militants did not want a deal. Many Gazans expressed tentative relief about Sunday's announcement, but said the fighting must end permanently. Others voiced concern about how aid would be delivered and whether it would reach people safely. Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir criticised the aid decision, which he said was made without his involvement on Saturday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence officials. "This is a capitulation to Hamas' deceitful campaign," he said in a statement, repeating his call to choke off all aid to Gaza, conquer the territory and encourage its Palestinian population to leave. He stopped short of threatening to quit the government. A spokesperson for Netanyahu did not immediately respond to a question about Ben-Gvir's comments. After letting in aid in May, Israel said there was enough food in Gaza but that the UN was failing to distribute it. The UN said it was operating as effectively as possible under Israeli restrictions. The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters stormed southern Israel, killing some 1200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza. Since then, Israel's offensive against Hamas has killed almost 60,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, reduced much of the enclave to ruins and displaced almost the entire population. Israel says it will halt military operations each day for 10 hours in parts of Gaza and allow new aid corridors in the shattered enclave, where images of hungry Palestinians have alarmed the world. Military activity will stop from 10am to 8pm local time (0700-1700 GMT) until further notice in Al-Mawasi - a designated humanitarian area that stretches along the coast - in central Deir al-Balah and Gaza City to the north. The military said designated secure routes for convoys delivering food and medicine will also be in place between 6am and 11pm from Sunday. United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher said staff would step up efforts to feed the hungry during the pauses in the designated areas. "Our teams on the ground ... will do all we can to reach as many starving people as we can in this window," he said in a post on X. Health officials at Al-Awda and Al-Aqsa Hospitals in the central Gaza Strip said Israeli firing killed at least 17 people and wounded 50 people waiting for aid trucks on Sunday. A spokesperson for Israel's military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Thousands of Gazans gathered in locations where they expect aid trucks to roll through on Sunday, Reuters witnesses and locals said. Dozens of Gazans have died of malnutrition in recent weeks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. The Gaza health ministry reported six new deaths in the past 24 hours due to malnutrition, bringing the total number of deaths from malnutrition and hunger to 133, including 87 children. The Egyptian Red Crescent said it was sending more than 100 trucks carrying 1200 metric tons of food aid to southern Gaza on Sunday through the Kerem Shalom crossing. Hours earlier, Israel began aid airdrops in what it said was an effort to ease the humanitarian conditions in the enclave. Aid groups said last week there was mass hunger among Gaza's 2.2 million people and international alarm over the humanitarian situation in Gaza has increased, driving French President Emmanuel Macron's decision to recognise a Palestinian state in September. The UN said last week humanitarian pauses in military activity would allow "the scale up of humanitarian assistance", adding that Israel had not been providing enough route alternatives for its convoys, hindering aid access. Israel, which cut off the aid flow to Gaza from the start of March and reopened it with new restrictions in May, says it is committed to allowing in aid but must control it to prevent it from being diverted by militants. It says it has let enough food into Gaza during the war and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza's people. Israel and the US appeared on Friday to abandon ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, saying it had become clear the militants did not want a deal. Many Gazans expressed tentative relief about Sunday's announcement, but said the fighting must end permanently. Others voiced concern about how aid would be delivered and whether it would reach people safely. Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir criticised the aid decision, which he said was made without his involvement on Saturday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence officials. "This is a capitulation to Hamas' deceitful campaign," he said in a statement, repeating his call to choke off all aid to Gaza, conquer the territory and encourage its Palestinian population to leave. He stopped short of threatening to quit the government. A spokesperson for Netanyahu did not immediately respond to a question about Ben-Gvir's comments. After letting in aid in May, Israel said there was enough food in Gaza but that the UN was failing to distribute it. The UN said it was operating as effectively as possible under Israeli restrictions. The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters stormed southern Israel, killing some 1200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza. Since then, Israel's offensive against Hamas has killed almost 60,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, reduced much of the enclave to ruins and displaced almost the entire population.
