{"id":37873,"date":"2025-08-01T10:09:45","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T08:09:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/?p=37873"},"modified":"2025-08-01T10:09:45","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T08:09:45","slug":"amal-doesnt-even-know-what-a-banana-is-child-malnutrition-in-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/amal-doesnt-even-know-what-a-banana-is-child-malnutrition-in-gaza\/","title":{"rendered":"Amal Doesn\u2019t Even Know What a Banana Is: Child Malnutrition in Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"
Starving a captive population, for centuries a legitimate war tactic, became unacceptable after the First World War, when <\/span>\u201cdeliberate starvation of civilians\u201d<\/span><\/a> was considered a violation of war and s<\/span>ubject to criminal prosecution. Today, international law defines the intentional withholding of food from a civilian populace during armed conflict as a war crime<\/span>. <\/span><\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

Asem Al Jerjawi<\/span><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

What happens when a child stops crying from hunger \u2014 because there\u2019s no strength left to cry? When the body begins to shut down, organ by organ, and the damage becomes irreversible?* In Gaza, famine isn\u2019t a warning. It\u2019s already written on children\u2019s skin, in their brittle hair and emaciated bodies. Clear in the very streets.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gaza\u2019s hot. Too hot<\/span>. <\/b>Gaza smells like something that\u2019s been left out too long<\/span>. <\/b>The stench \u2014 sewage, sweat, something else you can\u2019t name \u2014 catches in your throat. It hits before you even see it. You swallow it without meaning to. It stays in your mouth.<\/span><\/p>\n

Outside Amin al-Mansi School in Gaza City, where families take shelter in war-damaged classrooms, a dirty stream creeps through the sand where children once played. Flies cling to stagnant sewage pools. Kids lay around, not talking, just staring. No games. A little boy in a corner draws in the dirt. It looks like a plate. Or maybe it\u2019s only a circle. He doesn\u2019t\u00a0 finish it. Just lets his hand drop.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Inside it\u2019s worse. No air, no quiet, just this thick, sticky heat. The kind that makes your skin itch. There\u2019s no electricity. No privacy. No safety. A girl sleeps near a classroom door. Or maybe she\u2019s not sleeping. A fly lands on her face and stays there. No movement. Her sister curls up next to a wall, facing away. Nobody talks. Nobody stirs. It\u2019s too hot. Too quiet. You wait for a child to cry, but they don\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n

The hush in the school isn\u2019t rest, it\u2019s raw fatigue. The walls are blank. No chalk smears. No faded student drawings. No posters. Nothing but bare concrete and a stale echo of the life that once was.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the back of one classroom, Lina Abu al\u2011Kas, 28, sheltering at the school with her six children, props herself against the wall. Her son Majed droops over her shoulder, limp and exhausted. \u201cHe hasn’t eaten since yesterday,\u201d Lina whispers, her voice cracking. \u201cEven his dreams\u2026 they\u2019re about food.\u201d Nearby, her other children lie still, conserving what little strength they have left.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lina\u2019s family has been displaced more than 20 times since October 2023 \u2014 fleeing from the Shujaiya quarter of Gaza City to the streets, from the homes of relatives to this cramped classroom where they now live with three other families. \u201cWe\u2019ve been here since last August,\u201d she adds. \u201cThe children have never known peace. Their entire life is displacement.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Her children \u2014 Haneen, 11; Hiba, 8; Majd, 7; Jude, 5; Ne\u2019ma, 4; and Amal, just 2 \u2014 have adapted to a life where normalcy is hunger. Meals, when they come, are made from scraps. \u201cIf I manage to get a kilo of rice \u2014 100 shekels ($29) now \u2014 I divide it into two meals. Sometimes lentils, sometimes pasta that we convert with water into dough for a little bread. No oil, no salt. Just enough to trick the stomach. They drink water and sleep hungry. We haven\u2019t seen fruit or vegetables in months. Amal doesn\u2019t even know what a banana is.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The children whisper together. \u201cI want chicken. I want to sleep in my own bed,\u201d Jude mumbles.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cWhen I\u2019m hungry, I drink a lot of water and go to bed.\u201d Majd dreams of maqlouba.<\/span><\/p>\n

But even water has to be bought from vendors who haul it through the streets in donkey carts or sell it by the tank.<\/span><\/p>\n

Their father, Abu Majed, once worked in construction. Now he sits in silence. \u201cFridays used to mean fish or chicken,\u201d he recalls. \u201cNow, I can\u2019t afford a biscuit.\u201d He looks down. \u201cMy heart breaks when I come home with nothing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

My daughters grew up too fast. Hunger forced them to.\u201d<\/b><\/h4>\n
\n<\/blockquote>\n

In northern Gaza, Mohammed Al-Halabi faces similar despair. In his cramped shelter, the single room that remains of his family\u2019s damaged home, he watches his daughters fade. Rama, 13, once energetic, is now unrecognizable. \u201cShe lost weight so fast, it’s terrifying,\u201d he says. Rose, only 5, suffers constant pain. \u201cShe always says something hurts \u2014 her legs, her head, her stomach. She gets dizzy. Tired. And there\u2019s nothing I can do for her.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Before the war, they ate like any other children. \u201cMeat. Fruit. Sweets,\u201d Mohammed recalls. \u201cNow it\u2019s one meal a day. Mostly lentils. Sometimes rice. Maybe pasta. No oil, no vegetables, no sauce. We eat bread when we can find flour. That\u2019s all.\u201d He used to rely on a few savings, but that\u2019s long gone. Now, he buys a one kilo of flour at a time when he can, making dough to bake in a community oven. A single pita loaf is torn in two: one half for each daughter.<\/span><\/p>\n

In parts of Gaza, limited internet still flickers through the ruins \u2014 sometimes through a solar-powered router, sometimes for only a few minutes a day. In one neighborhood it works, in another it doesn\u2019t. The connection is as fragile and fractured as the lives it reaches, offering children fleeting glimpses of a world they\u2019re locked out of. When Rose asks for something, Mohammed braces himself. \u201cShe\u2019ll say, \u2018Baba, I saw chocolate in a post on the phone.\u2019 But she says this knowing I can\u2019t get it. They don\u2019t cry for food anymore. They understand.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He says hunger has made them older than they should be. \u201cYour child asks for something simple, a piece of chocolate, and you know it’s available, but impossible to buy,\u201d he says. \u201cSugar costs 570 shekels ($170), cocoa 180 ($54). Even if it\u2019s there in the market, it\u2019s beyond reach.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mohammed has resorted to creative substitutes, making cakes, biscuits, even coffee with ground lentils. \u201cBut substitutes don\u2019t stop hunger from harming their bodies,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rose\u2019s weight fell below 12 kilos. Doctors diagnosed a bacterial infection from contaminated shelters. Treatment helped briefly, but her weight still fluctuates dangerously. \u201cShe needs special supplements, therapeutic food,\u201d Mohammed explains. \u201cBut it\u2019s not here. It doesn\u2019t exist anymore.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Her body is fighting something bigger than bacteria: starvation. \u201cAll I want is for one day in which my children don\u2019t go to bed hungry,\u201d says Mohammed. \u201cJust one full meal. That\u2019s all.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hunger in Gaza is not a byproduct of war. It is a deliberate weapon. Since March 3, 2025, Israel has blocked all aid crossings \u2014 no food, no water, no medicine. By June 20, the <\/span>UN World Food Program<\/span> confirmed that all 2.1 million Palestinians in Gaza are facing acute hunger. At the time, at least 70,000 children required life-saving therapeutic food. By late July 2025, at least 80 children were confirmed to have died of starvation, up from 52 child hunger deaths in April \u2014<\/span> a 54% increase in under three months<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

This has been a calculated progression by the Israelis. In late May, screenings conducted by humanitarian groups had already found <\/span>5.8% of nearly 50,000 children in Gaza suffering from wasting,<\/span><\/a> a form of acute malnutrition that can kill without treatment. A Reuters review of UN data confirmed that child malnutrition had nearly tripled since the ceasefire in February. That same month, at least 29 children and elderly people died from starvation-related causes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By March, the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) <\/span>reported <\/span><\/a>\u00a0that nearly half a million Palestinians \u2014 one in five \u2014 had entered Phase 5: Catastrophe, the highest possible classification for food insecurity. It is now three months later, and things are only more catastrophic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Most families have no income, no work, no savings. Families survive entirely on aid. But even aid has become a gamble with one\u2019s life, as Israel took over the administration of aid from internationally-recognized NGOs and turned aid sites into killing fields. Israeli troops have shot and killed hundreds of aid seekers, while gangs, likely armed by Israel, steal food and re-sell it for outrageous prices.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And while the bombs still fall, parents watch their children wither. Lina\u2019s daughter, Amal, just two years old, holds a piece of bread like it\u2019s a doll. Lina\u2019s older daughter Ne\u2019ma, 4,\u00a0 is showing clear signs of starvation. \u201cShe\u2019s pale, she gets dizzy, she\u2019s smaller than she should be at four,\u201d explains Lina. \u201cBut medical help is hard to get\u2026 All I want is one day they can feel full.\u201d She brushes the hair from Amal\u2019s eyes. \u201cI just want one day where they don\u2019t sleep hungry. I want to go home. I want to make maftoul (Palestinian couscous) and plant flowers on the balcony. I want to hear them laugh again.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

* According to Dr. Fadi Bora, discussing the situation in Gaza today, “Medically, a person who has entered an advanced stage of starvation cannot be saved by food and water alone.\u00a0Without specialized medical care, death awaits nearby even if they’re suddenly offered lavish meals.\u00a0This is a body whose systems have collapsed, whose muscles have disintegrated, whose organs have shrunk, and who has become nothing more than a moving skeleton.\u00a0Tens of thousands of our devastated people may have already entered this final stage of starvation …They are likely to leave this cruel world very soon.\u00a0And yes…most of them are children.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A writer in Gaza reports on the consequences of Israel’s blocking humanitarian aid and medicines from entering the besieged territory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1042,"featured_media":37882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,51],"tags":[199,718,4664,1288,3387],"coauthors":[4665],"class_list":["post-37873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","category-tmr-weekly","tag-arab","tag-gaza","tag-humanitarian-aid","tag-palestine","tag-starvation","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAmal Doesn\u2019t Even Know What a Banana Is: Child Malnutrition in Gaza - The Markaz Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A writer in Gaza reports on the consequences of Israel's blocking humanitarian aid and medicines from entering the besieged territory.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/amal-doesnt-even-know-what-a-banana-is-child-malnutrition-in-gaza\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Amal Doesn\u2019t Even Know What a Banana Is: Child Malnutrition in Gaza\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A writer in Gaza reports on the consequences of Israel's blocking humanitarian aid and medicines from entering the besieged territory.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/amal-doesnt-even-know-what-a-banana-is-child-malnutrition-in-gaza\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Markaz Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-01T08:09:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Ahmed-Mahna-b.-Gaza-1984-22Hunger-and-death-are-the-masters-of-the-Mazqaf-in-Gaza2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"879\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Asem Al Jerjawi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Asem Al Jerjawi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/amal-doesnt-even-know-what-a-banana-is-child-malnutrition-in-gaza\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/amal-doesnt-even-know-what-a-banana-is-child-malnutrition-in-gaza\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Asem Al Jerjawi\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6266b054d6e2cd5496c584f42ba67bc8\"},\"headline\":\"Amal Doesn\u2019t Even Know What a Banana Is: Child Malnutrition in Gaza\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-01T08:09:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/amal-doesnt-even-know-what-a-banana-is-child-malnutrition-in-gaza\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1598,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/amal-doesnt-even-know-what-a-banana-is-child-malnutrition-in-gaza\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/Ahmed-Mahna-b.-Gaza-1984-22Hunger-and-death-are-the-masters-of-the-Mazqaf-in-Gaza2.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Arab\",\"Gaza\",\"Humanitarian Aid\",\"Palestine\",\"starvation\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Essays\",\"TMR Weekly\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/amal-doesnt-even-know-what-a-banana-is-child-malnutrition-in-gaza\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/amal-doesnt-even-know-what-a-banana-is-child-malnutrition-in-gaza\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldsite\\\/amal-doesnt-even-know-what-a-banana-is-child-malnutrition-in-gaza\\\/\",\"name\":\"Amal Doesn\u2019t Even Know What a Banana Is: Child Malnutrition in Gaza - 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