&w=3840&q=100)
No meals, fainting medical staff: Gaza hospitals haunted by starvation
In several of the hospitals still functioning in Gaza, nurses are fainting from hunger and dehydration. Managers often cannot provide meals for patients or medical staff. Doctors are running low on formula for newborn babies, in some cases giving them water alone.
And at least three major hospitals lack the nutritional fluids needed to properly treat malnourished children and adults. Those scenes were described in interviews starting Friday with seven doctors — four from Gaza, and three volunteers from Australia, Britain and the US. All of them worked this past week in four of the territory's main hospitals.
After months of warnings, international agencies, experts and doctors say starvation is now sweeping across Gaza amid restrictions on aid imposed by Israel for months. At least 56 Palestinians died this month of starvation in the territory, nearly half of the total such deaths since the war began 22 months ago, according to data released on Saturday by the Gaza Health Ministry.
As starvation rises, medical institutions and staff, already struggling to treat war wounds and illness, are now grappling with rising cases of malnourishment. Weak and dizzy, medics are passing out in the wards, where colleagues revive them with saline and glucose drips. Persistently short of basic tools such as antibiotics and painkillers, doctors are also running out of the special intravenous drips used to feed depleted patients.
In all four hospitals, the doctors described how they are increasingly unable to save malnourished babies and are instead forced to simply manage their decline. The babies are too weak to be flooded with nutrients, which could overload their system and cause them to suffer 'refeeding syndrome,' which could kill them.
In some cases, the fluids that the doctors can safely give to the babies are not enough to prevent them from dying. 'I have seen ones that are imminently about to pass away,' said Ambereen Sleemi. The babies were brought to the hospital 'starving and malnourished,' Dr. Sleemi said in a phone interview on Friday.
One-third of Palestinians in Gaza are forced to go without food for days in a row, the World Food Program said recently. Of the young children and pregnant women treated at clinics run by Doctors Without Borders in Gaza, roughly one-fourth are suffering from malnutrition, the medical aid group said last week.
Late on Saturday night, the Israeli military began to drop airborne aid over northern Gaza.
©2025 The New York Times
News Service
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Gaza death toll crosses 60,000, says health ministry as war rages on
Over 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in the 21-month Israel-Hamas war, Gaza's Health Ministry said Tuesday. Israel's offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displaced around 90% of the population and caused to a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, with experts warning of famine.(REUTERS) The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, said the death toll has climbed to to 60,034, with another 145,870 people wounded since Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack. It did not say how many were civilians or militants, but has said women and children make up around half the dead. The ministry is staffed by medical professionals. The United Nations and other independent experts view its figures as the most reliable count of casualties. Israel's offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displaced around 90% of the population and caused to a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, with experts warning of famine. At least 70 Palestinians killed over past day As international organizations warn of a 'worst-case scenario of famine," Israel continued to strike the Gaza Strip, killing at least 70 Palestinians in the past day, according to local hospitals. More than half were killed while attempting to access aid, hospitals said, and includes a rising toll from a deadly incident on Monday as people attempted to access aid from a truck convoy passing through the southern Gaza Strip. Local hospitals said they received the bodies of an additional 33 people who were killed by gunfire around an aid convoy in southern Gaza on Monday, bringing the total from the single incident to 58. The Israeli military did not comment on the shooting. Israel says it only targets militants and takes extraordinary measures to avoid harming civilians. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militants operate in populated areas. The military said it targeted Hamas military infrastructure over the past day including rocket launchers, weapons storage facilities and tunnels. An additional seven Palestinians were killed while attempting to access aid near the American and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund site in central Gaza, according to local hospitals. Neither GHF nor the Israeli military commented on the shooting, but the Israeli military has said in the past it only fires warning shots if troops feel threatened and GHF has said their contractors haven't fired at civilians. Air strikes also targeted tents hosting displaced people in the central city of Nuseirat, killing 30 people, including 12 children and 14 women, according to Al-Awda hospital. The strikes come as international organizations continue to warn about the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, which has teetered on the brink of famine for two years. Recent developments have 'dramatically worsened' the situation, according to a report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC. Israel rejects claims of starvation policies Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar on Tuesday rejected claims of 'starvation policies' in Gaza and said the focus on starvation is a 'distorted campaign of international pressure.' 'This pressure is directly sabotaging the chances for a ceasefire and hostage deal, it is only pushing towards military escalation by hardening Hamas's stance,' he said. Both the U.S. and Israel have recalled their negotiating teams over the past week as negotiations seem to have stalled. Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the attack that sparked the war, and abducted another 251. They are still holding 50 captives, around 20 believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals. The war took a major turn in early March when Israel imposed a complete 2 ½ month blockade, barring the entry of all food, medicine, fuel and other goods. Weeks later, Israel ended a ceasefire with a surprise bombardment and began seizing large areas of Gaza, measures it said were aimed at pressuring Hamas to release more hostages. At least 8,867 Palestinians have been killed since then. Israel eased the blockade in May, but U.N. agencies say it hasn't allowed nearly enough aid to enter and that they have struggled to deliver it because of Israeli restrictions and the breakdown of law and order. An alternative Israeli-backed system run by an American contractor has been marred by violence and controversy. Gutted health system, daily strikes and a hunger crisis Near-daily Israeli strikes have hit schools, shelters, hospitals and other civilian buildings, killing men, women and children. The military usually says it was targeting militants hiding out among civilians, while occasionally acknowledging mistakes. Israel's offensive and its blockade have also gutted Gaza's health system, with several hospitals having shut down and others only partially functioning as they receive waves of war-wounded. The hunger crisis has also taken its toll. The World Health Organization says more than 60 people have died this month from malnutrition-related causes, including 24 children under five. Overall, 88 children died of causes related to malnutrition since the start of the war, and 58 adults died this month also malnutrition-related causes, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. During hunger crises, people can die from malnutrition or from common illnesses or injuries that the body is not strong enough to fight. The ministry doesn't include hunger-related deaths in its overall toll.
Hindustan Times
3 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Famine Is Unfolding in Gaza Strip, Experts Say
The Gaza Strip is experiencing famine conditions, a group of global food-insecurity experts said, the most dire assessment of the enclave's deepening hunger crisis since the war began. 'The worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip,' said an interim report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, an initiative supported by the United Nations and major relief agencies. The job of IPC experts is to assess the risk of famine around the world. The interim report on Gaza released Tuesday doesn't constitute an official statement of famine—that requires a longer process—but it is the first time the group has described the food crisis there in such terms. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said 'there is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza.' President Trump later Monday said the U.S. and Europe would help deliver food directly to Palestinians in Gaza. 'Some of those kids—that's real starvation stuff, I see it. You can't fake that,' he said. The humanitarian situation has deteriorated significantly in recent weeks across the Gaza Strip, with residents often going full days without eating a meal and medical workers warning of rapidly rising malnutrition, especially among children. The IPC said at least 16 children under 5 have died of hunger-related causes since mid-July, compared with seven children the U.N. says died of hunger during the entire first half of the year. Suhair Salim, a 35-year-old from Gaza City, gave birth to a baby last week. She says she hasn't had meat in four months. For the past few days, all she has eaten is bread and water—not enough to produce sufficient breastmilk for her newborn. 'He doesn't get full,' Salim said by phone. 'His skin has turned yellow,' a possible symptom of malnutrition. The hunger crisis is compounding the human toll of a conflict that has already claimed more than 59,000 lives, according to Gaza health officials, who don't say how many were combatants. The IPC's latest comments on famine conditions come as Israel has faced mounting international pressure to do more to ensure food and other vital aid reach Gaza's more than two million people. In early March, Israel began a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, banning the entry of all aid and commercial goods. Israel said the move was meant to add pressure on Hamas as talks toward releasing hostages held by the group faltered. Supplies stockpiled during a cease-fire earlier in the year had largely run down by May. That month, Israel unveiled a new aid-distribution system backed by the U.S. and operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Intended as an alternative to distribution by U.N. agencies, the GHF has been beset by problems from the start, from food running out at distribution sites to deadly shootings near them. Since launching its war in Gaza in response to attacks by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has imposed strict inspections and limits on what goods can enter the strip, hindering the delivery of food and other aid. Israel has blamed the U.N. and humanitarian agencies for not doing more to deliver aid. Humanitarian groups say Israel has impeded their work through delays in clearing aid for distribution and denial of movement. Write to Margherita Stancati at and Feliz Solomon at
NDTV
3 hours ago
- NDTV
Netanyahu Claims No One In Gaza Is Starving. Trump, UN, Witnesses Disagree
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says no one in Gaza is starving: "There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza. We enable humanitarian aid throughout the duration of the war to enter Gaza - otherwise, there would be no Gazans." President Donald Trump on Monday said he disagrees with Netanyahu's claim of no starvation in Gaza, noting the images emerging of emaciated people: "Those children look very hungry." After international pressure, Israel over the weekend announced humanitarian pauses, airdrops and other measures meant to allow more aid to Palestinians in Gaza. But people there say little or nothing has changed on the ground. The UN has described it as a one-week scale-up of aid, and Israel has not said how long these latest measures would last. "This aid, delivered in this way, is an insult to the Palestinian people," said Hasan Al-Zalaan, who was at the site of an airdrop as some fought over the supplies and crushed cans of chickpeas littered the ground. Israel asserts that Hamas is the reason aid isn't reaching Palestinians in Gaza and accuses its militants of siphoning off aid to support its rule in the territory. The UN denies that looting of aid is systematic and that it lessens or ends entirely when enough aid is allowed to enter Gaza. Here's what we know The World Health Organization said Sunday there have been 63 malnutrition-related deaths in Gaza this month, including 24 children under the age of 5 - up from 11 deaths total the previous six months of the year. Gaza's Health Ministry puts the number even higher, reporting 82 deaths this month of malnutrition-related causes: 24 children and 58 adults. It said Monday that 14 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours. The ministry, which operates under the Hamas government, is headed by medical professionals and is seen by the UN as the most reliable source of data on casualties. UN agencies also often confirm numbers through other partners on the ground. The Patient's Friends Hospital, the main emergency center for malnourished kids in northern Gaza, says this month it saw for the first time malnutrition deaths in children who had no preexisting conditions. Some adults who died suffered from such illnesses as diabetes or had heart or kidney ailments made worse by starvation, according to Gaza medical officials. The WHO also says acute malnutrition in northern Gaza tripled this month, reaching nearly one in five children under 5 years old, and has doubled in central and southern Gaza. The UN says Gaza's only four specialized treatment centers for malnutrition are "overwhelmed." The leading international authority on food crises, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, has warned of famine for months in Gaza but has not formally declared one, citing the lack of data as Israel restricts access to the territory. The measures announced by Israel late Saturday include 10-hour daily humanitarian pauses in fighting in three heavily populated areas, so that UN trucks can more more easily distribute food. Still, UN World Food Program spokesperson Martin Penner said the agency's 55 trucks of aid that entered Gaza on Monday via the crossings of Zikim and Kerem Shalom were looted by starving people before they reached WFP warehouses. Experts say that airdrops, another measure Israel announced, are insufficient for the immense need in Gaza and dangerous to people on the ground. Israel's military says 48 food packages were dropped Sunday and Monday. Palestinians say they want a full return to the UN-led aid distribution system that was in place throughout the war, rather than the Israeli-backed mechanism that began in May. Witnesses and health workers say Israeli forces have killed hundreds by opening fire on Palestinians trying to reach those food distribution hubs or while crowding around entering aid trucks. Israel's military says it has fired warning shots to disperse threats. The UN and partners say that the best way to bring food into Gaza is by truck, and they have called repeatedly for Israel to loosen restrictions on their entry. A truck carries roughly 19 tons of supplies. Israel's military says that as of July 21, 95,435 trucks of aid have entered Gaza since the war began. That's an average of 146 trucks per day, and far below the 500 to 600 trucks per day that the UN says are needed. The rate has sometimes been as low as half of that for several months at a time. Nothing went in for 2 1/2 months starting in March because Israel imposed a complete blockade on food, fuel and other supplies entering Gaza. The UN says that delivering the aid that is allowed into Gaza has become increasingly difficult. When aid enters, it is left just inside the border in Gaza, and the UN must get Israeli military permission to send trucks to pick it up. But the UN says the military has denied or impeded just over half the movement requests for its trucks in the past three months. If the UN succeeds in picking up the aid, hungry crowds and armed gangs swarm the convoys and strip them of supplies. The Hamas-run civilian police once provided security along some routes, but that stopped after Israel targeted them with airstrikes.
