Huda Abu Naja is a child in Gaza, Palestine, who is experiencing extreme hunger. She is staying in a refugee camp in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, where her family resides. Due to lack of food, her body has become unusually thin and weak. There is no energy or strength left in her body. At just 12 years old, Huda’s wrists seem as if they might break. Her bones are protruding. She is a child suffering from malnutrition. Huda’s mother, Somaya Abu Naja, said that her daughter has been malnourished since March when the Israelis closed the border crossings, preventing aid supplies from entering Gaza. Somaya said that although her daughter was in the hospital for three months, her condition did not improve. She decided to bring her daughter back to the refugee camp after witnessing five children die of starvation at Al-Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza.
According to Somaya, her daughter previously weighed 35 kilograms. Today, her weight has dropped to 20 kilograms. Huda is one of thousands of children suffering from malnutrition in Gaza. On August 22, an international organization that assesses hunger officially declared for the first time that widespread famine was spreading in Gaza, Palestine. This is the first time such a situation has been declared in a Middle Eastern country.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) stated that by the end of September, one-third of Gaza’s total population, or 641,000 people, would be in IPC Phase 5, which is the worst stage of hunger. The widespread famine in northern Gaza is expected to spread to central Deir al-Balah and southern Khan Yunis during this period. The Gaza Ministry of Health said that since Israel began its aggressive attacks on Gaza on October 7, 2023, more than 280 people have died due to starvation in Gaza, including over 110 children.
The IPC said that children are suffering severe consequences due to hunger. They stated that 132,000 children under the age of five will die from malnutrition before June 2026. This is double the number the organization estimated in May of this year. Of these, 41,000 children are already on the brink of death, according to the organization. Dr. Ahmad Al-Farra, the chief pediatrician at Al-Nasser Hospital, said that 120 children are currently being treated for malnutrition at the hospital. He said that thousands of children in refugee camps across different areas of Gaza are suffering from this disease without receiving any treatment.
Dr. Farra said that children with malnutrition will suffer its effects for their entire lives. He said that Gaza’s hospitals lack the resources to provide the necessary treatment for these children. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, the director of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, said that it is believed that more than 320,000 children in Gaza are malnourished. He said that even those receiving treatment for injuries at the hospital are in this condition. Following the international organization’s declaration of widespread famine in Gaza, calls have increased for immediate provision of food and aid supplies to Gaza. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that the widespread famine situation facing Gaza is a deliberately inflicted condition. He has described it as evidence of a failure of humanity.
Referring to the hundreds of aid-laden trucks unable to enter Gaza due to Israeli restrictions and stuck in the border area, UN humanitarian aid chief Tom Fletcher said that Gaza’s people are starving very close to where food is available. He said that Israeli leaders are openly stating that food is a weapon of war. He has called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to immediately end the situation imposed on Gaza and facilitate the entry of aid supplies for humanitarian reasons.
