Four-year-old Gazan girl dies of hunger in acute food crisis

Four-year-old Gazan girl dies of hunger in acute food crisis

Four-year-old Razan Abu Zaher gave up her fight for survival on Sunday. She died in a hospital in central Gaza from complications hunger and malnutrition, according to a medical report. Her thin body was spread out on a block of stone.

The sad outcome of malnutritioned children

Since the conflict began in October 2023, at least 76 children in Gaza have died of malnutrition, as have 10 adults, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The World Health Organization reports that most of these deaths resulted from Israeli authorities imposing a blockade in early March.

The impact of the conflict on children

Razan was one of at least four children who died in the last three days, including the youngest, who was just three months old. Over the past 24 hours, 18 deaths due to hunger have been recorded in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry, reflecting the deepening crisis in the territory.

CNN first met Razan a month ago. By this time she was already weak and had lost a lot of weight. Her mother, Tahrir Abu Daher, explained at the time that she had no money for milk, which was rarely available anyway. "Her health was very good before the war, but after the war her condition began to deteriorate due to malnutrition. There is nothing to strengthen her."

Humanitarian crisis in Gaza

Razan died amid growing famine in Gaza as the flow of humanitarian aid has been sharply reduced since early March when Israeli authorities denied convoys access to Gaza. That lockdown was partially lifted at the end of May, but aid organizations report insufficient quantities to support the population.

Israel said it stopped delivering aid to Gaza because Hamas would steal it and profit from it - a claim Hamas denies. Israeli officials also say the United Nations has not picked up aid-collecting shipments in Gaza, while the UN responds that Israeli troops often refuse permission to move aid within Gaza and that many more are waiting to enter.

Growing need and desperation

Before the conflict began in October 2023, Gaza relied heavily on humanitarian aid and commercial food supplies. Shortages of food, medical supplies, fuel and other necessities have only worsened since then. These food shortages have led to rapidly increasing numbers of people being sent to already overwhelmed hospitals.

“Gaza is experiencing the worst periods of hunger, which have reached catastrophic proportions, while the international community remains in unprecedented silence,” said Dr. Khalil Al-Daqran, the spokesman for al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital where Razan died. Al-Daqran said the infants now dying had been deprived of their childhood - "once by bombing and killing, and again by denying them milk and a piece of bread."

Rising death tolls and appeals for help

The Health Ministry announced Saturday that an “unprecedented number of starving citizens of all ages are arriving at emergency rooms in severe states of exhaustion and fatigue.” “Hundreds whose bodies are severely weakened are now in acute danger of death due to starvation and the inability of their bodies to survive,” the ministry added.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights, an NGO working in Gaza, reported on Sunday that one of its team members in Gaza said: "Our faces have changed and our bodies are bet. We no longer recognize ourselves because of extreme emaciation, as if we are slowly fading and dying."

Dr. Suhaib Al-Hams, director of the Kuwaiti field hospital in Khan Younis, told CNN that the people arriving there "desperately need food before medication as their bodies have reached a point where they can no longer withstand and are all at risk of death."

Aid organizations in need

"Today World Central Kitchen stopped delivering meals to medical staff, they only sent us rice. Doctors work 24 hours a day without food, neither at home nor in the hospital. People are dying of hunger," Al-Hams said on Sunday.

World Central Kitchen confirmed that its teams in Gaza had run out of ingredients to prepare hot meals. "We served 80,000 meals on Saturday, using up our last supplies while aid shipments are stuck at the border. This is the second time the lack of access to aid has forced our kitchen operations to a standstill," she added.

Dangers for the population

In desperation, thousands of people risk their lives every day to find something to eat. On Sunday, more than 70 people were reported killed in northern Gaza while desperately seeking food aid, according to the Health Ministry; they are said to have been shot by Israeli troops.

The Israel Defense Forces said its troops in the area “fired warning shots to eliminate an imminent threat.” The IDF is aware of reports of casualties in the area and the details of the incident are still being reviewed.

“An initial review suggests that the number of reported casualties does not match the information available to the IDF,” they added.

Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital, where many of the victims are being treated, said that "a significant number of civilians and even medical personnel arrive in a state of fainting or collapse due to severe malnutrition."

Spectacular losses during relief operations

Nearly 800 Palestinians were killed between late May and July 7 while trying to access aid in Gaza, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). During this period, the killings of 798 people were recorded, including 615 near disputed sites US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). A further 183 people were killed “on the routes of the aid convoys”, with no details given about the people who led these transports.

Meanwhile, dozens more people have been killed since then, including more than 30 in southern Gaza on Saturday, the Health Ministry said. Tom Fletcher, the U.N. emergency relief coordinator, told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday that Gaza is running out of food. "Those who seek it risk being shot. People die trying to feed their families."

He said malnutrition rates among children reached their highest levels in June, with more than 5,800 boys and girls diagnosed as suffering from acute malnutrition. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported Friday that it was receiving “deeply worrying reports of malnourished children and adults arriving in hospitals with few resources.”

On Saturday, Sarmad Tamimy, a plastic surgeon who volunteers with Medical Aid for Palestinians, told CNN: "Frankly, I think the lucky ones die immediately because they don't have to be subjected to the terrible horrors they face - with their severe injuries, inadequate nutrition, inadequate medical supplies, infections, maggots and hospital-acquired infections."