‘Yahya died hungry. I couldn’t feed him:’ Testimonies of Israel’s starvation of Gaza’s children

“My son died before my eyes and I couldn’t do anything for him. I watched him waste away day by day,” said Asmaa Heidar, whose 11-month-old son Oday died last week while being treated for malnutrition at the Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.

He died of respiratory infections after losing weight rapidly, as his mother struggled to get the baby formula and nutritional supplements he needed, she told Mada Masr. With food all but gone from the markets after two months of Israel’s blockade on the Gaza Strip, Heidar could do nothing to feed her infant or herself. 

“My son is dead,” she told Mada Masr. “How many more children must die before they open the crossings?”

Cases of children suffering with similar health complications caused by malnutrition are appearing all over Gaza  under Israeli aggression. Zakaria Abu Halima’s four-year-old son, Yahya, starved to death last week in Gaza City.

“Yahya died hungry. I couldn’t feed him,” his father said. “Many days, we sleep hungry and wake up hungry. What can I do? Food isn’t available, and if it is, it’s very expensive.”

He described his son’s health declining rapidly, as he suffered first with fatigue, shortness of breath and dizziness before being admitted to the intensive care unit at the Patient’s Friends Benevolent Society Hospital in Gaza City and later declared dead.

The body’s capacity to function deteriorates without adequate food and symptoms of severe malnutrition can surface quickly, according to Ahmed al-Farra, director of Tahrir Maternity and Women’s Hospital at Nasser Medical Complex. Early signs typically include intense heart palpitations, shortness of breath and rapid weight loss. Once a patient reaches this stage, their chances of survival plummet, especially since medications are as scarce as food in Gaza due to the blockade. 

Only 122 nutrition treatment centers remain operational in Gaza,  out of 195 centers that were open before March 18, with 23 closed and 50 no longer operating due to Israel’s resumed bombardment of the strip, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). 

Charity kitchens are attempting to provide meals to support those unable to weather the rate of inflation. Mohamed Shaheen, speaking to Mada Masr from a displacement camp in Beit Lahia, brought pots to fetch food for his family after his father was injured. 

With crowds at the kitchen growing day by day, he is worried he might eventually return empty-handed. He is already barely able to get enough for his family, he told Mada Masr, adding that if they eat, it is only once per day.

Since Israel shut all of the crossings into Gaza at the start of March, at least 53 people — most of them children — have died of causes linked to malnutrition, Farra told Mada Masr. Those who died, however, represent a small portion of the tens of thousands of cases of severe anemia and malnutrition recorded in March likely to worsen as famine begins to set in, he continued.

The figure is expected to rise, as with each passing day, Israel’s siege , “will silently kill more children and women in addition to those killed in bombardments,” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), said on Friday.

With food production within the strip all but impossible, and no supplies entering from outside, the few remaining goods are extremely expensive.

Mayada al-Awady, a four-year-old in northern Gaza, has not eaten any meat, vegetables or fruit for two months. The food is not available in the markets, her father, Mahmoud al-Awady, said. 

He is trying to save his daughter, with the family eating mainly canned food. But her health has already declined rapidly, her weight has dropped and she is experiencing constant nausea. 

Doctors at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital diagnosed her with severe malnutrition, he said, and the supplements and medications they provided didn’t help improve her condition. “My daughter is dying of hunger in front of me, and I can’t provide enough food for her and her siblings.”