This article was published on Al Jazeera and is translated and republished by TiredEarth Gruop
Day after day, for two consecutive years, the pace of Israel’s cruel blockade on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip has only intensified — preventing the entry of food and medicine.
Heart-wrenching stories have followed one after another: children dying of hunger, others lying on makeshift beds in displacement camps and hospitals, their frail bodies fighting death.
Throughout these two years of genocidal war waged by Israel, the tragedy has extended far beyond the victims of direct military attacks.
Israel’s deliberate starvation policy — and the malnutrition it has caused — has claimed the lives of 460 Palestinians, including 154 children.
On August 22, 2025, the Global Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) declared a famine in Gaza City, in the north of the Strip.
The international initiative, which monitors food security and nutrition, also warned that famine would likely spread to Deir al-Balah in central Gaza and Khan Younis in the south.
The IPC includes 21 major organizations, among them the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP), UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), Oxfam, and Save the Children.
Over the past months, the UN World Food Programme warned that one-third of Gaza’s population — out of approximately 2.4 million Palestinians — had gone several days without eating anything at all.
Mohammed… a Frail Body Begging for Milk
In July 2025, a one-and-a-half-year-old boy named Mohammed Al-Matouq appeared in a displacement tent in western Gaza — his body weighing barely six kilograms, after losing three due to malnutrition.
His protruding ribs and weak cries exposed the cruelty of Israel’s starvation policy. His mother, left with no alternative, could only soothe him with water, as both food and milk had run out.
The child, whose pictures circulated around the world, now lives in deteriorating health and living conditions that threaten his survival — as hunger slowly consumes his body under the closure of all crossings.
Since March 2, 2025, Israel has completely sealed Gaza’s border crossings, blocking any food or humanitarian aid from entering, plunging the Strip into famine despite the piles of aid trucks stranded at the border.
On rare occasions, Israel allows in very limited amounts of aid — insufficient to end the famine — and even then, most of the trucks are looted by gangs that, according to the Gaza authorities, operate under Israeli protection.
Karim… Breathing Through an Oxygen Tube
Karim Ma’mar, three years old, weighs no more than seven kilograms and struggles to breathe through an oxygen tube, his body weakened by hunger and illness under Israel’s blockade.
Karim suffers from Fanconi syndrome, a rare genetic kidney disorder, but the blockade — with its shortage of medicine and nutritional supplements — has worsened his condition, turning his body into a living witness to the crime of starvation.
Fanconi syndrome prevents the renal tubules from reabsorbing essential substances such as glucose, phosphate, amino acids, and bicarbonate — causing them to be lost in the urine.
Its symptoms include excessive urination, intense thirst, bone pain, and muscle weakness.
Osama… A Skeleton on a Hospital Bed
Osama Al-Ruqab, aged four, has wasted away to a skeletal frame, his weight dropping to nine kilograms, though a child his age should weigh no less than sixteen.
His emaciated body, with ribs and abdomen bones protruding, appeared in a video that sparked widespread shock — revealing the full scale of Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe and the inability to provide food or medicine under Israel’s suffocating blockade.
Misk… The Pain of Silence
Misk Bilal Al-Madhoon, six years old, lives in Gaza City in complete silence — unable to speak or sit — as her fragile bones protrude under the effects of brain atrophy, worsened by severe malnutrition.
Examples of Deaths from Israel’s Starvation Policy
August 30, 2025
– Infant Rania Ghaban died at Al-Rantisi Hospital, suffering from malnutrition and lack of medical care.
August 23, 2025
– Rasil Abu Masoud (two months old) died at Nasser Hospital; her frail body was filmed inside the morgue refrigerator.
August 22, 2025
– Ghadir Barika, a five-month-old baby, lost her life to malnutrition. Her father said she died because milk was unavailable — the closure of crossings made it impossible to obtain any.
August 7, 2025
– Ruaa Mashi (two years old) died of hunger at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, according to medical reports.
– Mohammed Zakaria Asfour (one year and four months) also died there from malnutrition; activists circulated photos of his skeletal body.
May 2025
– Palestinian mother Aya Al-Sakafi lost her four-month-old baby girl, Jinan, who died in her arms due to malnutrition and lack of medicine.
The mother said she fears her other child will meet the same fate amid Israel’s ongoing genocide and blockade.
– Jinan Saleh Al-Sakafi, another child, died at Al-Rantisi Hospital from malnutrition and dehydration.
– Mohammed Mustafa Yassin (four years old) died of hunger, according to Gaza’s Civil Defense.
August 14, 2024
– Lina Sheikh Khalil (four years old) died of malnutrition in central Gaza.
July 2024
– Hekmat Bdeir (six years old) died of malnutrition in Deir al-Balah.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been committing a genocide in Gaza that has left 67,139 dead and 169,583 wounded, most of them children and women.
The famine alone has killed 460 Palestinians, including 154 children.
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