‘There’s no way to describe the horror’
Aqsa Durrani, a pediatric doctor and a humanitarian worker with Doctors Without Borders, has recounted the horrific scenes she witnessed while volunteering in the Gaza Strip.
“I’ve worked in many places with extreme hunger, but what’s so jarring in this context is how cruel it is, how deliberate. I was in Gaza for two months; there’s no way to describe the horror of what’s happening,” she told Humans of New York, a popular photo blog.
“In the hospital, there are kids maimed by air strikes: missing arms, missing legs, third-degree burns. Often, there’s not enough pain medication. But the children are not screaming about the pain, they’re screaming: ‘I’m hungry! I’m hungry!'” she said.
She spoke of the plight of her Palestinian colleagues, “who are trying to treat patients while hungry, exhausted”.
“They’re living in tents. Some of them have lost 15, 20 members of their families,” she said.
Durrani called Israel’s abuses in Gaza “clearly a genocide” and said she was ashamed that she has been unable to stop the atrocities.
“When I entered Gaza the Israeli military had a rule: I was only allowed to bring in three kilos of food. As I was weighing out protein bars, trying to get under the limit, I said to my husband: ‘How sinister is this?’ I’m a humanitarian aid worker. Why would there even be a… pic.twitter.com/g5RSNbmzvs
— Brandon Stanton (@humansofny) August 11, 2025
Ex-Irish, NZ leaders visit Rafah crossing, call for end to Israel’s deliberate starvation
The former prime minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark, and former president of Ireland, Mary Robinson, have called for global action after visiting the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, where they said they “witnessed the shocking reality behind the unfolding famine in Gaza”.
The two leaders, who are part of The Elders, a group of former heads of state and high-level officials, visited Egyptian Red Crescent warehouses in Al Arish on Monday, where they saw “massive quantities of food and medicines like ibuprofen ready for delivery to Gazans but blocked by Israeli authorities”, according to a statement.
They also heard from aid workers about aid trucks being “sent back multiple times without plausible explanation, Palestinians in Gaza undergoing operations without anaesthesia”, and “parents unable to feed themselves or their children”.
Clarke and Robinson said that other world “leaders must not look away any longer. They must act”.
“Israel’s deliberate starvation and systematic killing of Gazans must end now.”
Today, Elders @HelenClarkNZ and Mary Robinson witnessed the shocking reality behind the unfolding famine in Gaza during a visit to Egyptian Red Crescent warehouses in Al Arish, and the Rafah border crossing.
What they saw: massive quantities of food and medicines like ibuprofen… pic.twitter.com/chruNsbevF
— The Elders (@TheElders) August 11, 2025
