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Hunger Crisis in Gaza: What to Know

Ten-year-old Palestinian boy, Yazan al-Kafarneh, displaced from Beit Hanun and suffering from a pre-existing condition, lies on a hospital bed at Al-Awda clinic in Rafah; he died on March 4 severe malnourishment and insufficient healthcare- AFP
Ten-year-old Palestinian boy, Yazan al-Kafarneh, displaced from Beit Hanun and suffering from a pre-existing condition, lies on a hospital bed at Al-Awda clinic in Rafah; he died on March 4 severe malnourishment and insufficient healthcare- AFP
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Hunger Crisis in Gaza: What to Know

Ten-year-old Palestinian boy, Yazan al-Kafarneh, displaced from Beit Hanun and suffering from a pre-existing condition, lies on a hospital bed at Al-Awda clinic in Rafah; he died on March 4 severe malnourishment and insufficient healthcare- AFP
Ten-year-old Palestinian boy, Yazan al-Kafarneh, displaced from Beit Hanun and suffering from a pre-existing condition, lies on a hospital bed at Al-Awda clinic in Rafah; he died on March 4 severe malnourishment and insufficient healthcare- AFP

Children have begun starving to death in Gaza, where the United Nations has warned a famine is "almost inevitable."

Here's what to know about the hunger crisis engulfing the war-torn Palestinian territory.

At least 15 children have died from starvation and dehydration in a single hospital, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Media including AFP have captured haunting images of emaciated infants with sunken eyes and gaunt faces.

Over the weekend, World Health Organization workers were able to visit hospitals in northern Gaza for the first time since October, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday on X.

He said the workers found "severe levels of malnutrition, children dying of starvation, serious shortages of fuel, food and medical supplies, hospital buildings destroyed."

Across Gaza, 90 percent of children aged 6–23 months and pregnant and breastfeeding women face severe food poverty, according to a report released two weeks ago by the Global Nutrition Cluster, a network of nutrition NGOs led by UNICEF.

At least 90 percent of children under five are affected by one or more infectious diseases, it added.

Aid organizations working on the ground blame Israel, which is waging a war against Hamas in the wake of the October 7 attacks, for preventing enough food trucks from entering Gaza.

"As the occupying power in Gaza, Israel has the responsibility to ensure that the occupied population receives food and medical supplies," the International Rescue Committee told AFP in a statement.

"Intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including wilfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva Conventions, is a war crime."

At the start of the conflict, high-ranking Israeli officials such as defense minister Yoav Gallant, openly called for a "complete siege" to deprive Palestinians of food, fuel and water. But officials have since walked back that rhetoric.

"Our war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza," military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said recently, adding Israel was "facilitating aid."

The UN food agency said Tuesday its aid convoy was turned away by Israeli forces at a checkpoint in northern Gaza.

Last week, Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians scrambling for food aid in a chaotic melee that killed more than 100 people.

US military planes have begun dropping tens of thousands of meals, though aid agencies say this is an inefficient way to curb the crisis.

Dabney Evans, director of the Center for Humanitarian Emergencies at Emory University, told AFP that images from Gaza indicated the most severe forms of malnutrition, including "wasting" which refers to extremely low weight for a person's height, as a result of severe decreases in caloric intake in a short period of time.

"Their bodies are beginning to break down and are in shock," said Evans, explaining that bringing someone back to good health requires careful supervised medical care, not just giving them food, which can be dangerous.

Imad Dardonah, a pediatrician at the Kamal Adwan Hospital, the only pediatrics hospital in northern Gaza, told AFP that staff had supplies to only treat around half of cases adequately.

"We have nothing to give them, the most we can do for them is either give them saline solution or sugar solution."

If malnutrition is prolonged it will lead to long-term consequences such as growth stunting, a reduced ability to learn, and a weakened immune system.

Anu Narayan, an advisor for UNICEF on child nutrition, told AFP there would likely be a "lifelong impact" at least on some individuals.

"We know for a fact that it can impact children's cognitive development and over the long term has an impact on their earnings and ability to function fully."

UC Berkeley researchers recently learned that people born during the Great Chinese Famine more than 60 years ago -- and their offspring -- had far higher rates of tuberculosis, "indicating a previously unrecognized, intergenerational effect of prenatal and early life exposure to famine."

Since 2004, "famine" has had a formal technical definition: it occurs when at least 20 percent of the population face extreme food shortages, acute malnutrition rates exceed 30 percent, and two out of 1,000 people die from starvation on a daily basis.

While the word is highly charged and has the power to spur world action, it has only been officially declared twice in the past decade: in Somalia in 2011, and South Sudan in 2017.

But Narayan told AFP it made little sense to fixate on the fact the Gaza crisis had not yet met the highest possible classification.

"We have seen that all the factors that put people, but particularly young children at such high risk, are there."

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Damascus’ Mazzeh 86 Neighborhood, Witness of The Two-Assad Era

Members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent stand near the wreckage of a car after what the Syrian state television said was a "guided missile attack" on the car in the Mazzeh area of Damascus, Syria October 21, 2024. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi
Members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent stand near the wreckage of a car after what the Syrian state television said was a "guided missile attack" on the car in the Mazzeh area of Damascus, Syria October 21, 2024. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi
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Damascus’ Mazzeh 86 Neighborhood, Witness of The Two-Assad Era

Members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent stand near the wreckage of a car after what the Syrian state television said was a "guided missile attack" on the car in the Mazzeh area of Damascus, Syria October 21, 2024. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi
Members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent stand near the wreckage of a car after what the Syrian state television said was a "guided missile attack" on the car in the Mazzeh area of Damascus, Syria October 21, 2024. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi

In the Mazzeh 86 neighborhood, west of the Syrian capital Damascus, the names of many shops, grocery stores, and public squares still serve as a reminder of the era of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his late father, Hafez al-Assad.

This is evident in landmarks like the “Al-Hafez Restaurant,” one of the prominent features of this area. Squares such as “Al-Areen,” “Officers,” and “Bride of the Mountain” evoke memories of the buildings surrounding them, which once housed influential officials and high-ranking officers in intelligence and security agencies. These individuals instilled fear in Syrians for five decades until their historic escape on the night of the regime’s collapse last month.

In this neighborhood, the effects of Israeli bombing are clearly visible, as it was targeted multiple times. Meanwhile, its narrow streets and alleys were strewn with military uniforms abandoned by leaders who fled before military operations arrived and liberated the area from their grip on December 8 of last year.

Here, stark contradictions come to light during a tour by Asharq Al-Awsat in a district that, until recently, was largely loyal to the former president. Muaz, a 42-year-old resident of the area, recounts how most officers and security personnel shed their military uniforms and discarded them in the streets on the night of Assad’s escape.

He said: “Many of them brought down their weapons and military ranks in the streets and fled to their hometowns along the Syrian coast.”

Administratively part of Damascus, Mazzeh 86 consists of concrete blocks randomly built between the Mazzeh Western Villas area, the Mazzeh Highway, and the well-known Sheikh Saad commercial district. Its ownership originally belonged to the residents of the Mazzeh area in Damascus. The region was once agricultural land and rocky mountain terrain. The peaks extending toward Mount Qasioun were previously seized by the Ministry of Defense, which instructed security and army personnel to build homes there without requiring property ownership documents.

Suleiman, a 30-year-old shop owner, who sells white meat and chicken, hails from the city of Jableh in the coastal province of Latakia. His father moved to this neighborhood in the 1970s to work as an army assistant.

Suleiman says he hears the sound of gunfire every evening, while General Security patrols roam the streets “searching for remnants of the former regime and wanted individuals who refuse to surrender their weapons. We fear reprisals and just want to live in peace.”

He mentioned that prices before December 8 were exorbitant and beyond the purchasing power of Syrians, with the price of a kilogram of chicken exceeding 60,000 Syrian pounds and a carton of eggs reaching 75,000.

“A single egg was sold for 2,500 pounds, which is far beyond the purchasing power of any employee in the public or private sector,” due to low salaries and the deteriorating living conditions across the country,” Suleiman added.

On the sides of the roads, pictures of the fugitive president and his father, Hafez al-Assad, were torn down, while military vehicles were parked, awaiting instructions.

Maram, 46, who previously worked as a civilian employee in the Ministry of Defense, says she is waiting for the resolution of employment statuses for workers in army institutions. She stated: “So far, there are no instructions regarding our situation. The army forces and security personnel have been given the opportunity for settlement, but there is no talk about us.”

The neighborhood, in its current form, dates back to the 1980s when Rifaat al-Assad, the younger brother of former President Hafez al-Assad, was allowed to construct the “Defense Palace,” which was referred to as “Brigade 86.” Its location is the same area now known as Mazzeh Jabal 86.

The area is divided into two parts: Mazzeh Madrasa (School) and Mazzeh Khazan (Tank). The first takes its name from the first school built and opened in the area, while the second is named after the water tank that supplies the entire Mazzeh region.

Two sources from the Mazzeh Municipality and the Mukhtar’s office estimate the neighborhood’s current population at approximately 200,000, down from over 300,000 before Assad’s fall. Most residents originate from Syria’s coastal regions, followed by those from interior provinces like Homs and Hama. There was also a portion of Kurds who had moved from the Jazira region in northeastern Syria to live there, but most returned to their areas due to the security grip and after the “Crisis Cell” bombing that killed senior security officials in mid-2012.

Along the main street connecting Al-Huda Square to Al-Sahla Pharmacy, torn images of President Hafez al-Assad are visible for the first time in this area in five decades. On balconies and walls, traces of Bashar al-Assad’s posters remain, bearing witness to his 24-year era.