Israel forces shoot Palestinian boy in eye at aid site amid Gaza starvation
Fifteen-year-old Abdul Rahman Abu Jazar told Al Jazeera on Sunday that Israeli soldiers kept shooting at him even after he was struck by a bullet, making him think 'this was the end' and 'death was near'.
Relaying the harrowing chain of events from a hospital bed with a white bandage covering one eye, Abu Jazar said he went to the site around 2am (23:00 GMT).
'It was my first time going to the distribution point,' he said. 'I went there because my siblings and I had no food. We couldn't find anything to eat.'
He says he moved forward with the crowd until he reached al-Muntazah Park in the Gaza City environs about five hours later.
'We were running when they began shooting at us. I was with three others; three of them were hit. As soon as we started running, they opened fire. Then I felt something like electricity shoot through my body. I collapsed to the ground. I felt as though I had been electrocuted … I didn't know where I was, I just blacked out. When I woke up, I asked people 'Where am I?''
Others near Abu Jazar told him he had been shot in the head. 'They were still firing. I got scared and started reciting prayers.'
A doctor at the hospital held a phone light near the boy's wounded eye and asked him if he could see any light. He could not. The doctor diagnosed a perforating eye injury caused by a gunshot wound.
Abu Jazar underwent surgery and said, 'I hope my eyesight will return, God willing.'
Hospitals receive bodies of more aid seekers
Gaza's Health Ministry reports that 119 bodies, including 15 recovered from under the rubble of destroyed buildings or other places, and 866 wounded Palestinians have arrived at the enclave's hospitals over the past 24 hours.
At least 65 Palestinians were killed while seeking aid, and 511 more were wounded.
Israeli forces have routinely fired on Palestinians trying to get food at GHF-run distribution sites in Gaza, and the United Nations reported this week that more than 1,300 aid seekers have been killed since the group began operating in May.
In the meantime, the UN office in Geneva has warned that one million women and girls in Gaza are now starving, as the territory's humanitarian crisis grows more dire.
In a post on X, the UN said: 'This horrific situation is unacceptable and must end.'
Gaza's famine and malnutrition crisis has been worsening by the day, with at least 175 people, including 93 children, now confirmed dead from the man-made starvation of Israel's punishing blockade, according to the territory's Health Ministry.
More than 6,000 Palestinian children are being treated for malnutrition resulting from the blockade, according to the Global Nutrition Cluster, which includes the UN health and food agencies.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Jazeera
2 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
What ‘starvation' really means, for the human body and for Gaza
Aid agencies say the limited amount of aid Israel has allowed into Gaza in the last week is unlikely to avert the famine experts have warned about for months. While at first most of the starvation-related deaths were among children and infants, increasingly, older people are succumbing to the hunger that Israel has imposed upon the enclave since March. On Sunday, six more adults died from malnutrition, bringing the number of adults to die from hunger in Gaza to 82 over the last five weeks, when such deaths were first recorded. Ninety-three children have also been killed by Israel through the man-made malnutrition it has imposed upon the enclave since its war began. So, how does starvation happen? Are we seeing the whole picture? Here's what we know. What does starving to death feel like? 'It's awful,' Dr James Smith, an emergency doctor who has volunteered twice in Gaza, said. In the early stages, after being deprived of food for days, the body begins to break down muscle and other tissues. 'It's one of the most undignified and barbaric ways to kill. Starvation is always something that is done by one person to another. It's intended to be protracted and to maximise suffering,' he said. Soon, metabolism slows, the ability to regulate temperature is lost, kidney function becomes impaired and, critically in Gaza, the immune system begins to falter and the body's ability to heal from injury is reduced. Once the body's reserves are used up, it loses the ability to channel nutrients to vital organs and tissues. As a result, essential organs like the heart and lungs become less effective. Muscles shrink and people feel weak. Eventually, as the body's protein stores are ravaged, the body's tissues are broken down, with death not far away. How long does it take the human body to die of starvation? While scientific research on the subject has been limited for ethical reasons, it's estimated that a typically well-nourished and otherwise healthy adult could survive without food for between 45 and 61 days. However, after 22 months of war, few people in Gaza could be described as well nourished or healthy, leaving them susceptible to malnutrition and the many infectious diseases prevalent in the enclave. 'With starvation, the body loses the ability to launch an immune response to diseases or injuries it could normally deal with, such as gastroenteritis, trauma or a respiratory infection, so it's often malnutrition plus an infection that kills,' Dr Smith continued. Who are the people who are most at risk of starving to death? The old, the young, those already ill and, cruelly, those who are alone. 'A child will die earlier from starvation. The loss of muscle and fat occurs almost immediately. Equally, those in older age groups will also die quicker,' Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a Palestinian British surgeon who spent 43 days working in Gaza, said. 'However, it isn't just age. There are social differences, too,' he continued. 'There are currently thousands of orphans roaming Gaza. There is no one to feed them or risk their lives to get food for them, so they're also more likely to die,' he said. Who are the people who are dying of hunger in Gaza? There is overwhelming evidence that, through the various blockades Israel has imposed on Gaza, the threat of death by starvation has spread from the vulnerable to everyone in Gaza. In February 2024, five months into Israel's war on Gaza, the World Health Organization estimated that one in six children under the age of two, especially in Gaza's north – at the time under Israeli siege – were acutely malnourished. As of August 2025, 82 adults have starved to death over the last five weeks. Israel has been limiting Gaza's food for years. How has that affected the people there? Israel has been controlling the amount of food it allows into Gaza for decades, suggesting it already knows precisely how much is needed to avert, or cause, starvation in Gaza. In 2007, following Hamas's takeover of the enclave, Israel instituted its first blockade on Gaza's population, reducing the aid it allowed into the enclave while still giving public assurances that it was not starving people. However, documents uncovered after a legal battle between an Israeli NGO and the government confirmed that, between 2007 to 2010, Israel deliberately reduced the food it allowed into Gaza to 'minimal subsistence' levels. 'Generationally, the damage [of malnutrition] is lasting,' Dr Abu-Sittah said, citing the lasting impact of starvation on brain function, and the prevalence of other ailments, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease among survivors. Dr Smith pointed out the increased frequency with which malnourished mothers give birth to underweight babies, the effects of which 'cascade through the generations'. Can famine in Gaza still be avoided? It's unlikely. Just under a week ago, the United Nations-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) issued its gravest warning yet: that a worst-case famine scenario was unfolding in Gaza. However, other observers feel famine has already arrived in Gaza. 'There are three rigid criteria for a famine to be officially declared,' Dr Jones explained. The first two: widespread extreme food shortages and high levels of acute malnutrition, had already been met, he said. Data to confirm the third – the extent of malnutrition-related mortality – is difficult to confirm, he added. 'Some of those most at risk of dying from malnutrition probably don't have the ability to reach a hospital where deaths are typically recorded,' he said. 'Similarly, while many children in Gaza now show signs of malnutrition, they're also at high risk of being killed by Israeli shells and gunfire, which will be recorded as their primary cause of death. 'However, whatever term we use to describe the situation, people are still being killed by starvation throughout Gaza, as the world looks on,' he said. 'This is worse than famine. This is the most grotesque spectacle of suffering.'
Al Jazeera
2 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
‘We're suffering': People in Sudan's el-Fasher eat animal fodder to survive
People in Sudan's North Darfur region are forced to eat animal fodder to survive as the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continues to lay siege to el-Fasher – the last urban centre in the region under army control. 'We are suffering, world. We need humanitarian aid – food and medicine – whether by airdrop or by opening ground routes. We cannot survive in this condition,' Othman Angaro, from a displacement camp in el-Fasher, told Al Jazeera. Angaro described how he and his family rely on livestock fodder known as ambaz, a type of animal feed made out of peanut shells. Another woman, veterinarian Zulfa Al-Nour, told Al Jazeera that her family relies daily on a charity kitchen called 'Matbakh Al-Khair' for a single meal, amid a total lack of external aid. She called for urgent international intervention, including airdrops of humanitarian supplies, warning that even the ambaz fodder is nearly depleted. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) last week warned about starvation in the el-Fasher region. Starvation has reached the most severe level on the United Nations-backed food security scale – 'IPC Phase 5', indicating full-blown famine – it said on Friday. The two-month siege of el-Fasher has complicated aid efforts. The RSF has blocked food supplies, and aid convoys trying to reach the city have been attacked, locals said. Prices for the goods smuggled into the region cost more than five times the national average. Outbreak of cholera An outbreak of cholera in the North Darfur state, of which el-Fasher is the capital, has further added to the misery. Deaths due to the water-borne disease have risen to 191 in the region, which has witnessed months of fighting between Sudan's army and the RSF, according to a government official. At least 62 people have died from the disease in Tawila in the North Darfur state, the spokesman for the General Coordination for Displaced Persons and Refugees in Darfur, Adam Rijal, said in a statement on Monday. Nearly 100 people have also died in the Kalma and the Otash camps, Rijal added, both displacement camps located in the city of Nyala in South Darfur state. Some 4,000 cases of cholera have been reported in the region, according to the statement. In recent months, more than half a million people have taken shelter in Tawila, some 60km (37 miles) west of el-Fasher, the state capital, which has been under two months of siege by the RSF rebels. Most of the Darfur region is under the rebel control except for el-Fasher. 'Too weak to survive' Meanwhile, with Sudan in the throes of the rainy season, along with poor living conditions and inadequate sanitation, the outbreak of cholera is only worsening, warn aid groups. Cholera was first identified in early June in Tawila and has since spread to numerous refugee camps, according to NGO Avaaz. Nearly 40 people have died due to cholera in the Jebel Marra area, a district of West Darfur state. Doctors Without Borders, or MSF, is operating two cholera treatment facilities in Tawila housing 146 beds – coordinating nearly the entire medical response to the outbreak. Last month, it warned that 'much more' needs to be done to improve 'access to water, hygiene, and medical care to curb the spread of the outbreak in the midst of the rainy season'. Samir, a former teacher displaced to el-Fasher with his family, told Avaaz last week that the situation was 'catastrophic' and that the cholera outbreak was being exacerbated by widespread hunger. 'People are dying because they are too weak to survive,' he told the NGO. 'Their immune systems are compromised from severe malnutrition. People are starving in the displacement camps.' مدينة الفاشر في ولاية شمال دارفور غرب السودان بتعيش مجاعة قاتلة بسبب فرض الحصار عليها من قبل قوات الدعم السريع المدعومة من الاماراتالمجاعة دخلت المرحلة الخامسة يعني مجاعة كاملة ووضع كارثياتكلموا عنهم#الفاشر_تموت_جوعاََ — Ahmed Elhadary (@Ahmed_hadary77) August 2, 2025 Translation: 'The city of el-Fasher in North Darfur state, western Sudan, is experiencing a deadly famine due to the siege imposed on it by the Rapid Support Forces backed by the Emirates. The famine has reached the fifth stage, meaning a full-scale famine and a catastrophic situation. Speak about them.' Meanwhile, fighting continues. 'The RSF's artillery and drones are shelling el-Fasher morning and night,' one resident told the Reuters news agency. 'The number of people dying has increased every day, and the cemeteries are expanding,' he said. On Monday, Emergency Lawyers, a human rights group, said at least 14 people fleeing el-Fasher were killed and dozens were injured when they were attacked in a village along the route. The UN called for a humanitarian pause to fighting in el-Fasher last month as the rainy season began, but the RSF rejected the call. Fighting between the two groups first erupted in the capital Khartoum in April 2023. It has since spread to several regions of the country as the army chief and de facto head of state, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, jostles for power with RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan 'Hemedti' Dagalo. The war has killed tens of thousands and displaced nearly 13 million people, according to UN estimates, resulting in one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
Al Jazeera
4 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Every child under five in Gaza at risk of malnourishment: UN
The United Nations has warned that all children of Gaza under the age of five are at risk of life-threatening malnourishment, amid growing reports of starvation-related deaths as Israel continues to block aid from entering the besieged Gaza Strip. The UN's World Food Programme said children in this age bracket – around 320,000 in number – have been affected by the collapse of nutrition services and are lacking access to safe water, breast milk substitutes and therapeutic feeding. Paediatrician Seema Jilani told Al Jazeera that malnutrition 'affects their entire body', putting children at risk of multi-organ failure. She also said that starvation in Gaza is traumatic for children and that 'developmental milestones will be missed'. Hospitals in Gaza on Monday recorded six new deaths from famine and malnutrition in the past 24 hours, including one child, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The total number of people who died from hunger-related causes since the start of the war now stands at 181, including 94 children. The ministry also sounded the alarm over a 'serious escalation' in cases of acute soft paralysis among children as a result of 'infections and acute malnutrition'. In a statement, it said it has so far recorded three deaths from Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare condition that causes sudden numbness and muscle weakness in most of the body. Entry of over 22,000 aid trucks blocked Gaza's government said Israel was deliberately blocking more than 22,000 humanitarian aid trucks from entering the territory as part of a systematic campaign of 'starvation, siege and chaos'. The Palestinian territory has been under total Israeli blockade since March 2, shortly before Israel ended a two-month ceasefire and resumed attacks. Mosab al-Dibs, 14, has been at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City for about two months after suffering a severe head injury when an Israeli air raid struck his family's tent in May. The boy is largely paralysed and severely malnourished because the facility no longer has supplies to feed him. 'Mosab now suffers from severe malnutrition,' his mother, Shahinaz al-Dibs, said. 'He suffers convulsions as a result of a hit that affected his brain. Even his nerves are stiff.' The situation in Gaza was nothing short of catastrophic. by Ahmad Alhendawi, Middle East director of Save the Children International At a school-turned-shelter for displaced Palestinians in northern Gaza, Samah Matar said her sons – six-year-old Yousef and four-year-old Amir – have cerebral palsy and need a special diet. Youssef weighed 14kg (31lb) before the war. Now, he weighs 9kg (20lb). Amir, who weighed 9kg (20lb), is now less than 6kg (13lb). 'Before the war, their health was excellent,' she said. 'Now, there is no baby formula or diapers, and I can hardly find flour for them. Sugar, the main ingredient in their meals, is unavailable.' Ahmad Alhendawi, Middle East director of Save the Children International, told Al Jazeera that the situation in Gaza was 'nothing short of catastrophic.' 'This is about almost four months of this blockade, of starvation that has built over weeks and months, and to come back from that point of extreme malnutrition and starvation requires a sustained supply of food and medical equipment and also food supplements for children in need,' he said. The organisation said more than four in 10 (43 percent) pregnant and breastfeeding women seeking treatment at its clinics in Gaza in July were malnourished. The rate was almost three times higher than in March, when Israel reimposed a total siege on Gaza. Infant formula has not been allowed to enter the Strip. 'It's possible to reverse some [of the damage done to children by hunger],' Alhendawi said. 'But I'm afraid that some of this damage would be irreversible at this stage.'
