Younis lays disorientated on a green mattress in Nasser Hospital, in southern Gaza. His long brown eyelashes rest delicately on his pale sunken face, as he drifts in and out of sleep. <\/p>\n
The 9-year-old Palestinian boy lies in his mother\u2019s arms, clearly wasted from severe malnutrition and suffering from dehydration. His blue jogging bottoms hang off his emaciated legs, as his tiny ribcage protrudes from his billowy orange T-shirt. <\/p>\n
Two months ago, the family was forced to flee the southern city of Rafah as Israel ramped up its attacks there. These days, they struggle to survive, living along the polluted coastline of Asda\u2019a \u2014 near the Al-Mawasi tent camp \u2014 where they cannot find enough food, water, or even shade from the Gaza heat. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to keep moving from one area to the other because of the war and the invasion\u2026 Life is difficult,\u201d his mother said. \u201cWe don\u2019t even have a tent over our heads.\u201d <\/p>\n
And as Israel continues its siege on Gaza, preventing aid groups getting enough food into the enclave, parents say they have no choice but to watch their children starve to death. More than eight months of bombardment has shredded infrastructure, wiped out communities and laid waste to entire neighborhoods. Sanitation systems \u2014 already stressed by water shortages from extreme heat \u2014 have been heavily destroyed, according to the UN, diminishing access to clean water. <\/p>\n
A report published Tuesday by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which assesses global food insecurity and malnutrition, warned that almost all of Gaza will face famine within the next three months. <\/p>\n
The UN\u2019s food agency earlier warned that southern Gaza could soon see the same \u201ccatastrophic levels of hunger\u201d recorded previously in the north, where Israel concentrated its military offensive in the early days of the war. <\/p>\n
At least 34 children have already died of malnutrition in Gaza, the government media office reported on June 22. The true number could be higher, as limited access to Gaza has impeded aid agencies\u2019 efforts to fully assess the crisis there. More than 50,000 children require treatment for acute malnutrition, the UN\u2019s agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) said earlier this month. <\/p>\n
Israel launched its military offensive in Gaza after the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on southern Israel, in which at least 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 others were abducted. <\/p>\n
Israeli attacks in Gaza have since killed 37,658 Palestinians and injured another 86,237 people, according to Gaza health officials. <\/p>\n
As Younis suffers in his mother\u2019s arms in Gaza\u2019s south, children in the north have been dealing with food shortages even longer. In the Jabalya refugee camp, they queue at a water truck, beads of sweat rolling down their faces, as they weave through the rubble-filled streets. <\/p>\n
Dozens of other Gazans crowd together to access water as aid workers nearby distribute thick, steaming red soup from large saucepans. <\/p>\n
Israel insists there is \u201cno limit\u201d on the amount of aid that can enter Gaza, but its inspection regime on trucks, restrictions on land routes and increased bombardment means relief is barely trickling in. Even when aid enters the besieged territory, the risk of hungry Palestinians scrambling over convoys hampers distribution efforts. UN Secretary General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres recently warned the absence of police authorities in Gaza during the conflict had led to \u201ctotal lawlessness.\u201d <\/p>\n
Earlier this year, the UN warned that Israel is creating an \u201centirely man-made disaster\u201d in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied allegations by the International Criminal Court\u2019s chief prosecutor that he has used \u201cstarvation of civilians as a method of warfare.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThe only water we have is what we get as aid. People are suffering as a result, it is indescribable,\u201d said one civilian named Hassan Kalash. \u201cWe are ill and don\u2019t have the strength to transport the water\u2026 The water pipe is broken. We do not have water infrastructure.\u201d <\/p>\n
The UN\u2019s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has accused Israeli authorities of obstructing humanitarian access to northern Gaza. In the first three weeks of June, 36 trucks carrying aid \u2014 which were facilitated by Israel \u2014 were allowed to reach Gaza, while another 35 were either denied access, impeded or canceled due to logistical, operational or security reasons. <\/p>\n
The impact on the ground is visceral. In Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza, 5-year-old Razan wears a gold ring on her finger, which is covered in red sores. The Palestinian girl is sprawled on a trolley in the central Gaza facility, her grey eyes weary with exhaustion. <\/p>\n
Newborn babies and pregnant women are among the most at risk of malnutrition and dehydration in Gaza, according to aid agencies and health workers. Undernourished mothers are more likely to give birth prematurely, with newborns dying because they weigh too little. <\/p>\n
At the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, doctors were unable to keep baby Amal alive just four days after her birth. <\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone in these beds today is at risk of dying. We are waiting for them to die one by one,\u201d he added, his voice quivering with grief. \u201cWe have no life.\u201d <\/p>\n
Around 250 patients are receiving treatment for malnutrition at the hospital, and there are only two functioning stabilization centers for severely malnourished children in Gaza, OCHA reported earlier this month, endangering almost 3,000 children, who were receiving treatment for acute malnutrition in the south prior to the military escalation in Rafah. <\/p>\n
As hunger worsens and parts of the enclave hurtle towards widespread famine, aid agencies have repeatedly called for the opening of land crossings into Gaza, which they say are the most effective way of getting relief into the strip. A US-built floating pier designed to bring in aid in by sea has been beset by problems \u2014 from unfavorable sea conditions to distribution issues once the aid ins transferred on land \u2014 failing to make a meaningful difference to the crisis. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy son will not be able to survive this,\u201d he said. \u201cI call on the American president Joe Biden\u2026 to intervene,\u201d added Madi, \u201cto save this child who has nothing at all to do with any political conflict.\u201d <\/p>\n
But just days later, the boy died. With other young children to provide for, Madi\u2019s life as a parent is full of stress. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very hard to feed a family of 10 in these difficult times.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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