Specter of hunger looms over Gaza's children

By Hosni Nadim

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - The Palestinians in Gaza are no longer solely haunted by the fear of death from Israeli missiles.

Now, the specter of hunger looms large, posing a dire threat to their lives, especially for their children.

The scarcity of food, particularly in areas of Gaza City and the northern region, persists, with limited and sporadic aid reaching them.

The World Food Programme, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization (WHO) stated in a Tuesday release, “as the risk of famine grows in Gaza, and more people are exposed to deadly disease outbreaks, a fundamental step change in the flow of humanitarian aid is urgently needed.”

On Dec. 23, 2023, the United Nations reported that 4 out of 5 of the world's most hungry people are currently in the Gaza Strip.

Palestinians and relief organizations warn that thousands of inhabitants in the Gaza Strip, which has a population of 2.3 million, may die if humanitarian conditions do not significantly improve.

Israel allows only a limited amount of humanitarian aid into Gaza, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in the region, which has been facing an Israeli war for over 100 days.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip have been without sufficient or healthy food and water for over two months, as food supplies have run out, or have been destroyed by Israeli army shelling. Only limited amounts of aid enter the area.

- Malnutrition

Inside a tent within the Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, 8-year-old Mahmoud Nasr is too weak to stand or play due to severe malnutrition caused by hunger.

Mahmoud's father, Said Nasr, searches for food every morning for his family of five but can only find some rice and non-potable water, which they rely on for survival.

Nasr tells Anadolu: “The situation is extremely difficult, hunger is overwhelming Gaza, invading homes and shelters, threatening lives widely.”

He further says: “Currently, the staple diet in Gaza revolves around boiled rice due to the scarcity of flour and bread."

He says “rice does not meet all the nutritional needs of children, who refuse to eat it because it is of poor quality and poorly cooked due to the lack of salt, spices, and clean water.”

Nasr notes that his children often experience dizziness and occasionally receive nutritional supplements to stay alive, which they buy from some pharmacies still operating in Gaza City.

- Slow arrival of aid

Adel Muhisen, displaced from the Shuja'iyya neighborhood east of Gaza City, goes daily to the coastal Rashid street in the hope of getting some food from trucks loaded with aid. However, he usually waits in vain due to the infrequent arrival of aid trucks.

Muhisen tells Anadolu: “I begged to feed my starving children and found nothing to satisfy their hunger, so I decided to risk my life and go to the seafront and wait for trucks coming from the south, hoping to get some food.”

He adds: “Israeli forces open fire on us, and aid trucks arrive at long intervals, so I often return without getting anything.”

Muhisen says that he bought a small amount of rice and pasta a few days ago from a store that had been closed since the beginning of the war. The store reopened with limited quantities of goods.

“If the situation continues as it is, my children will die of hunger because only small quantities of rice and pasta are available in the markets, and that's what we've been eating for over a month. This food does not meet the nutritional needs of the children,” he says.

- Breastfeeding mothers

Hani Asaad, a Palestinian resident of the Remal neighborhood in Gaza City, welcomed a baby about a month ago and is currently facing significant difficulties in obtaining formula milk.

Hani tells Anadolu: “My child needs milk, and I do not have the necessary money for it. Even if I could afford it, I cannot find the right milk, and breastfeeding is not enough because my wife does not consume a nutrient-rich diet.”

“I fear losing my first child due to hunger; he is currently suffering from severe malnutrition,” he says.

“People in Gaza risk dying of hunger just miles from trucks filled with food,” said head of the UN World Food Programme WFP Cindy McCain, in an appeal also backed by the heads of UNICEF and WHO.

“Every hour lost puts countless lives at risk,” the WFP executive director said.

She added: “We can keep famine at bay but only if we can deliver sufficient supplies and have safe access to everyone in need, wherever they are.”

The latest internationally recognized food insecurity assessments conducted in Gaza indicated that “roughly 2.2 million people – were in crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity.”

“Virtually all Palestinians in Gaza are skipping meals every day while many adults go hungry so children can eat,” WHO said.

Since Oct. 7, 2023, the Israeli army has been conducting a destructive war on Gaza, resulting in, as of Wednesday, 24,448 fatalities and 61,504 injuries, according to Palestinian authorities and the United Nations. The conflict has also forced over 85% of the population in the Gaza Strip (around 1.9 million people) to flee their homes.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala in Istanbul