A 29-year-old Palestinian man has died as a result of severe malnutrition in Gaza, with the Israeli authorities continued blockade compounding the humanitarian catastrophe in the besieged enclave
Ayoub Abu al-Hussain died on Monday at the Kuwait Specialised Field Hospital in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip.
Photos and videos published show the 29-year-old man in a skeletal state, with notable weight loss caused by the restrictions on food aid and essentials.
According to a post by the hospital, Ayoub had arrived “lifeless” due to the malnutrition in a “scene that embodies the magnitude of the worsening humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip due to the closure of crossings and the ongoing aggression”.
“The severe shortage of food and medicine threatens the lives of thousands of citizens, especially children, the elderly, and those with chronic diseases, amid the lack of the most basic necessities of life,” the post added.
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In a statement to Anadolu Agency, Ismail al-Thawabta, director of the Government Media Office in Gaza, indicated that the death of the young man “represents a tragic and shocking development in the worsening humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip due to the criminal Israeli occupation.”
“The fact that a young man in the prime of his life has become so emaciated that he has become a skeleton is living proof of the horrific Israeli crime against Palestinians through its deliberate and systematic policy of starvation, which is no longer limited to children alone.”
In the ongoing war on Gaza, which genocide scholars and international human rights organisations have unanimously called a “genocide” against the Palestinian people, Israel also has been accused of implementing a policy of starvation in Gaza.
In its assessment in mid-May, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a global initiative aimed at enhancing food security and nutrition analysis to inform decisions, wrote that over the next six months, the entirety of Gaza is expected to face what is referred to by experts as “crisis, or worse acute food insecurity”.
Israel is starving Gaza to death, and still the world does nothing
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Furthering the shortage of food has been the recently operating US-Israeli aid intiative, that has come under scrutiny for its use of militarised methods to distribute aid and the lack of essentials entering the Gaza Strip.
In a joint statment on Tuesday, more than 130 NGOs have called for immediate action to end the “deadly” US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid scheme, and revert back to United Nations-led aid coordination mechanisms.
The GHF began operating in late May, following a three-month total blockade on the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces. Since then, more than 500 Palestinians have been killed and around 4,000 wounded by Israeli troops while attempting to access food and aid supplies.
“Today Palestinians in Gaza face an impossible choice: starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families,” the NGOs said in the statement.
The signatories include Oxfam, Save the Children, Amnesty, Doctors Without Borders and Action Aid.
Thawabta noted that Israel’s starvation policy is “comprehensive and targets civilians regardless of their age, while the Israeli occupation army implements it with full awareness and determination, in violation of all humanitarian norms and international laws,” calling for urgent action to allow the immediate entry of food and medical supplies
‘Dangerous development’
The death of Ayoub, a young adult, has been especially notable and represents a looming threat over the blockaded Strip according to Thawabta.
Most of the victims who have died due to starvation and malnutrition have thus far been children, with the latest victim indicating the “Gaza Strip is facing a dangerous development that could open the door to an increase in this number among adults as well, unless urgent intervention is made” to open the crossings and allow humanitarian essentials into the Strip.
This “shocking situation represents yet another aspect of the genocide to which Palestinians are subjected under siege, and complete deprivation of food and medicine,” Thawabta said, considering it “a stain of shame on the brow of the silent and inactive international community.
“While most of the injuries and deaths (from malnutrition) at the beginning of the aggression were among children due to their fragile bodies, the talk now about adults dying from hunger and deprivation proves that the circle of danger has expanded to include everyone without exception.”
