Aid Workers Face Impossible Choices
Gaza famine crisis deepens as aid workers report helplessness amid blockades and soaring child malnutrition. The Israeli blockade has entered its third month. Food, medicine, and fuel have been cut off.
Rana Soboh, a nutritionist, recalls two cases that broke her spirit. A mother collapsed while breastfeeding. She hadn’t eaten in days. A one-year-old boy, just 11 pounds, was too weak to cry. He had no teeth. His mother looked like “a skeleton covered in skin.”
Soboh could only cry when the mother begged for food. “This is the worst feeling,” she said.
Blockade Creates Man-Made Disaster
Aid workers from multiple organizations say Gaza is in catastrophe. The crisis, they say, is not natural. It’s man-made.
Nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are malnourished. One in five is near starvation.
Israel says the blockade pressures Hamas to release hostages. But rights groups call it a “starvation tactic.” They say it breaks international law.
Food and Water Nearly Gone
Community kitchens—once the last hope—are now closing. Over 60% are shut due to a lack of supplies.
One kitchen in Khan Younis feeds 1,000 people a day. But 2,000 show up. “There are no lines, only a sea of fear,” said chef Nihad Abu Kush. He gave up his own meal for a hungry child.
Water is also rationed. Families get just 5 liters per day—one-third of emergency standards.
Mothers and Children Starving Together
Mothers can’t breastfeed due to starvation. Many give their newborns sugar water. It leads to deadly infections.
Flour is rotten and overpriced. Still, parents risk their lives to get it. “Fear of famine is in every home,” said Fady Abed, a MedGlobal staffer.
Adults beg for children’s therapeutic food bars. “You feel like you let them down,” Abed said.
Medical Collapse Deepens Crisis
Hospitals are breaking down. At Al-Awda Hospital, workers used hand-pumps for 72 hours to help a patient breathe. He died anyway.
At Nasser Hospital, doctors lack tools for skull fractures. They use expired gelatins.
One foreign doctor said kids with faulty cochlear implants may never speak. “We can’t help them,” he said.
Aid Sits at the Border
170,000 metric tons of aid sit just inside Israel. The U.N. and aid groups say they’re blocked.
Israel now proposes a “new aid system.” It will limit distribution to a few hubs. Armed contractors will control the process.
Aid workers refuse. They say the plan weaponizes food. It forces people to move. “It’s not aid—it’s control,” said Oxfam’s Mahmoud al-Saqqa.
Global Plea for Immediate Access
Aid leaders urge the world to act. “We know how to treat malnutrition,” said Rachel Cummings from Save the Children. “But we need food to get into Gaza.”
The world watches a famine unfold. Aid workers, stripped of resources, can only bear witness.
Source: AP News