Extreme hunger in Gaza has caused acute malnutrition among children, exemplified by a 12-year-old girl whose weight fell from 35kg to 20kg and who lies emaciated in a displacement camp. She spent three months in hospitals without improvement and was returned to her family's tent after witnessing deaths from starvation. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children are suffering from malnutrition as food and humanitarian aid are being blocked from entering the enclave. A UN-backed monitor confirmed that more than half a million people face famine in northern Gaza, with the number possibly reaching 614,000 as famine spreads. More than 280 people, including over 110 children, have died from starvation since the war began nearly two years ago.
Somia Abu Naja says her 12-year-old daughter's weight has plummeted to 20kg as extreme hunger grips the Gaza Strip. Huda Abu Naja lies weak and emaciated on a thin mattress in her family's tent in a displacement camp in central Gaza's Deir el-Balah. The 12-year-old Palestinian girl's arms are painfully thin, and the bones on her torso are protruding from under her skin, a telltale sign of her acute malnutrition.
My daughter has been suffering from acute malnutrition since March when Israel closed Gaza's borders, Huda's mother, Somia Abu Naja, tells Al Jazeera, stroking her daughter's face. She spent three months in hospitals, but her condition did not improve, said Somia, explaining that she decided to bring Huda back to the family's tent after witnessing five children die of starvation at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza's Khan Younis. She used to weigh 35 kilos [77lbs], but now she's down to 20 [44lbs], Somia added.
On Friday, a United Nations-backed hunger monitor confirmed for the first time that more than half a million people were experiencing famine in northern Gaza the first such designation ever recorded in the Middle East. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system warned that the figure could reach 614,000 as famine is expected to spread to the Deir el-Balah and Khan Younis governorates by the end of September.
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