Palestinians forced to eat expired food as starvation crisis worsens
Dr Ahmed Alfarra, director of paediatrics at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, says the hunger crisis in the enclave is the worst he’s seen since Israel’s bombardment began nearly two years ago.
Alfarra said Palestinian families have come to the hospital suffering from serious health problems, including facial paralysis and respiratory failure, linked to consuming spoiled food.
“I asked the father and the mother, ‘Didn’t you smell the [foul] odour of the can [of food that you ate]?’ He said, ‘Doctor, what can we do? This is all we have,'” Alfarra told Al Jazeera.
Alfarra added that the US- and Israeli-backed GHF food distribution scheme, where hundreds of Palestinian aid seekers have been killed in the past weeks, has worsened an already dire situation.
“I will not send my son [to GHF-run aid sites]; I am afraid that he will go there and he will come back as a [dead] body. The GHF is a [trap] for killing, not for distributing food,” he said.
Infectious diseases spreading due to lack of clean water, food: Gaza doctor
We’ve spoken with Dr Khaleel al-Deqran, spokesperson of Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, about the worsening starvation crisis in the Strip.
Al-Deqran told Al Jazeera that infectious diseases, such as meningitis, are spreading due to a lack of clean water, food and medicine.
“Survivors [of Israeli attacks] are living within the ruins of their destroyed homes amid unhealthy conditions and a total absence of hygiene. As a result, their immune systems have been deeply impacted,” he said.
“It is really dire, it is catastrophic,” al-Deqran said of the overall situation. “The whole world must act now to salvage what is left of the Gaza Strip.”
Nearly 1 in 3 Palestinians in Gaza not eating for days at a time: WFP
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) has raised alarm as thousands of Palestinians in Gaza are on the “verge of catastrophic hunger”.
“Food aid is the only real way for people to eat,” the agency wrote on X.
Hundreds of Palestinians face ‘imminent death’, doctor warns
Dr Sohaib al-Hums, director of the Kuwaiti Field Hospital in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, has warned that the medical facility is “witnessing an unprecedented influx of displaced persons”.
“We are receiving cases suffering from extreme exhaustion and complete fatigue, in addition to severe emaciation and acute malnutrition due to prolonged lack of food,” he said in a statement.
“We warn that hundreds whose bodies have completely wasted away are now facing imminent death, as their physical endurance has been surpassed.”
