Ahmed Kamel – Egypt Daily News
In Gaza’s Nasser Hospital, the walls of the pediatric malnutrition ward are painted soft pink and adorned with cheerful drawings children running, laughing, and playing with balloons. But inside the rooms, the reality is starkly different: infants lie silent and motionless in their mothers’ arms, their bodies too weak from hunger to even cry.
Doctors at the hospital describe the silence as a grim sign a symptom of the body shutting down due to extreme malnutrition. “She just lies there limp, not moving,” said Zeina Radwan, whose 10-month-old daughter Maria can no longer sit or stand. “She doesn’t respond. She doesn’t even cry.” Zeina herself is malnourished and survives on one meal a day, unable to breastfeed.
For five days last week, Reuters journalists documented the deteriorating conditions at Nasser Medical Complex, one of only four facilities in Gaza still able to treat children with acute malnutrition. During that period alone, 53 new cases were admitted, according to the head of the pediatric department.
Starvation Crisis Deepens as Supplies Dwindle
Gaza’s descent into famine follows months of siege. In March, Israel cut off all supplies to the territory in its ongoing war with Hamas. Though access was partially restored in May, Israeli authorities say restrictions remain in place to prevent aid from being diverted to armed groups.
Israel’s military coordination office stated it is not restricting aid convoys, instead blaming distribution challenges inside Gaza on international aid agencies. But the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that critical nutrition supplies are nearly depleted and that the health system is buckling under demand.
“This is a famine in progress,” said the Global Hunger Index earlier this week.
In recent weeks, the Gaza Health Ministry reported that at least 154 people, including 89 children, have died from hunger-related conditions many within the past month. The WHO has described the situation as a full-blown humanitarian emergency, with more than 500,000 people around a quarter of Gaza’s population—living in famine-like conditions.
A Generation Wasting Away
“We are seeing children who were born healthy and are now wasting away,” said Dr. Ahmed Al-Farra, head of pediatrics and obstetrics at Nasser Hospital. One case is baby Wateen Abu Amouna, who, at nearly three months old, now weighs less than she did at birth.
“She has not gained a single gram on the contrary, she’s lost weight,” he said. “Her muscles are gone. It’s just skin stretched over bones.” Her cheeks are hollow. Her limbs are as thin as her mother’s thumb.
Wateen’s mother, Yasmin Abu Sultan, pointed to her daughter’s legs and arms. “Do you see? These are her legs. Look at her arms,” she said, tears in her eyes. Yasmin herself is also malnourished and survives on hospital-provided rations.
Many children, like Wateen, also suffer from repeated fevers and diarrhea common infections that malnourished bodies cannot fight off. “If she stays like this, I will lose her,” Yasmin said.
Some children, like Maria, have shown signs of improvement and were discharged after gaining weight. Others, like five-month-old Zainab Abu Haleeb, did not survive. Her body, weakened by hunger, succumbed to sepsis over the weekend. Her parents carried her tiny body out of the hospital wrapped in a white burial shroud.
Hospitals Overwhelmed, Aid Nearly Gone
Medical staff say Gaza’s hospitals are overstretched and undersupplied. Special therapeutic food formulas needed for treating severe acute malnutrition are nearly exhausted, according to WHO.
“We are in desperate need of infant formula, medical supplies, and nutritional food,” said Dr. Al-Farra. “We need everything everything to keep the hospitals functioning.”
Marina Adrianopoli, who leads the WHO’s nutrition response in Gaza, confirmed the crisis: “All essential supplies for treating severe acute malnutrition, especially in cases with medical complications, are nearly gone. The situation is critical.”
In early July alone, more than 5,000 children under the age of five were treated in outpatient clinics for malnutrition. Of those, 18% were suffering from the most severe form. That figure has surged from 6,500 cases in all of June and it likely underrepresents the true scale of the crisis.
Political Responses and Aid Shortfalls
Israel insists it is not using hunger as a weapon of war and has recently announced steps to increase aid, including aerial food drops and temporary ceasefires to allow humanitarian access. However, the United Nations says the volume of aid needed to stave off famine and a public health catastrophe is far greater than what is currently being delivered.
Many of the children who have died from starvation had underlying health conditions, Israeli officials argue. But famine experts say that’s typical in such crises. “Children with pre-existing conditions are the first to die in a hunger emergency,” said Marco Kerac, a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and contributor to WHO’s guidelines on malnutrition.
Still, doctors on the ground report that more and more of the children now arriving have no prior health issues they are simply starving.
The hospital remains full, the need overwhelming, and the silence of the children growing louder.
