In the midst of the ongoing conflict in Gaza, a heart-wrenching story has emerged that highlights the dire consequences of Israel’s blockade on essential food supplies.
Four-year-old Abdullah Abu Zerka, who recently passed away in a Turkish hospital due to malnutrition, has become a symbol of the man-made famine affecting Gaza’s 2.1 million people.
A video of Abdullah screaming in hunger went viral, prompting international attention and a medical evacuation to Turkiye. Unfortunately, the treatment came too late, and Abdullah succumbed to malnutrition.
Abdullah’s father, Hamed Abu Zerka, recounts the pain of watching his children waste away due to the lack of food and clean drinking water in Gaza.
“There isn’t even clean drinking water there. Bombs are falling; there’s hunger and death everywhere,” he says, describing the dire conditions in Gaza. His six-month-old daughter, Habiba, is currently fighting for her life in the same hospital where her brother passed away.
According to Dr. Mehmet Yilmaz, the hospital’s chief of pediatric intensive care, the Abu Zerka siblings’ conditions are a grim reminder of the devastating impact of prolonged malnutrition on children.
The United Nations estimates that over 90% of Gaza’s population faces severe food insecurity, with children being particularly vulnerable to malnutrition-related complications. As of August 19, the known number of people who have starved to death in Gaza reached at least 266, including 122 children.
Human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International, have accused Israel of enacting a “deliberate policy” of starvation in Gaza, systematically destroying the health, well-being, and social fabric of Palestinian life.
In a statement, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy, and Campaigns, Erika Guevara-Rosas, emphasized that “Palestinian children are being left to waste away, forcing families into an impossible choice: helplessly hearing the cries of their emaciated children pleading for food, or risking death or injury in a desperate search for aid.”
The situation in Gaza has become catastrophic, with hospitals overwhelmed, medicines running out, and deaths from malnutrition and disease on the rise.
The international community has been urged to take action to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The World Food Programme has called for more aid to be allowed into the enclave, emphasizing that at least 100 trucks a day are needed to meet the immense needs of the population.
The situation in Gaza is a stark reminder of the devastating consequences of conflict on civilians, particularly children, and the need for immediate humanitarian assistance.