Starvation in Gaza: Why the World Must Act Now Before Thousands More Die
- ajoyce140
- Aug 8, 2025
- 5 min read
“Hunger is not an issue of charity. It is an issue of justice.” – Jacques Diouf
The Latest Update in Gaza
To many, it may seem as though the chaos in Gaza began just two years ago, on the eventful day of October 7th. However, this is only one of many tragedies that have scarred the Palestinian land over the past 77 years.
In the long and painful history of the war over Palestine, today’s turmoil can be traced back to the 1948 Nakba (“the catastrophe”), when between 750,000 and 1 million Palestinians, half of the population at the time, were displaced from more than 1,300 villages and towns. This mass exodus was only the first of many, leaving countless Palestinians stateless, living as refugees, and without legal citizenship.
Those who managed to remain in Palestine have never truly known peace, as the violence has never ended, only worsened. Today, Gaza faces one of the most severe humanitarian crises the world has seen in our lifetime.
The lives that many in Gaza once knew now lie in ruins. Homes, schools, entire neighborhoods, and markets have been destroyed; few buildings still stand. At least 60,332 people, including 17,400 children, have been killed. Over 147,643 have been injured, 40,500 of them are children. Nearly 2 million people are displaced.
The most tragic recent development is the soaring rates of malnutrition and starvation.
There is Not Enough Food in Gaza
The situation is dire and lives are hanging in the balance. According to the World Health Organization, much of the region is now experiencing what they call a “worst-case scenario” for famine. In July alone, malnutrition claimed the lives of 63 Palestinians. The United Nations warns that around 100,000 women and children are suffering from severe malnutrition, while roughly one-third of Gaza’s 2.1 million residents have gone days without food.
Due to severe restrictions on humanitarian aid entering the region, more and more people are going without food. Without urgent action, mass starvation will follow.
In the south, desperation has driven crowds to climb onto the few trucks allowed in, desperate to collect anything edible. Many people go for days without a single meal. Currently, one in ten children is malnourished. A total of 159 people have died from starvation, 90 of them children.
“Emaciated children and babies are dying from malnutrition in Gaza,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “We need immediate, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access across Gaza to scale up the delivery of lifesaving food, nutrition, water, and medicine. Without that, mothers and fathers will continue to face a parent’s worst nightmare, powerless to save a starving child from a condition we are able to prevent.”
The Impact of Starvation on the Human Body
When hunger persists for too long, it turns into starvation, when the body does not receive the calories it needs to function. This can be caused by famine, disease, or other severe disruptions to food access.
The body’s response to starvation generally follows five stages:
● Phase 1 – Carbohydrate Use: After eating stops, the body uses stored carbohydrates in the liver for energy. Hunger and mild stomach rumbling occur as these stores run out.
● Phase 2 – Fat Mobilization: Within 1–2 days, carbohydrate reserves are depleted, and the body turns to stored fat for fuel, often causing fatigue, dizziness, and low blood sugar.
● Phase 3 – Ketone Production: Around day 3, the liver converts fat into ketones to fuel the brain, which may slightly reduce hunger despite ongoing energy deprivation.
● Phase 4 – Energy Conservation: The body slows its metabolism to conserve energy (lowering heart rate, blood pressure, and hormone production), leading to fatigue, inactivity, and halted reproductive functions.
● Phase 5 – Protein Breakdown: Once fat stores are gone, the body breaks down muscle protein for fuel, causing muscle wasting, swelling, brittle hair, organ weakening, and eventually death.
The most heartbreaking part of Gaza’s famine is watching the most vulnerable suffer. Children are at the highest risk of malnutrition because they require more frequent meals and are more likely to succumb to illness, which worsens the effects of hunger.
"There's nothing quite like the cry of a hungry child. It's a completely unique sound that just somehow cuts right to your heart," said Dr. Kevin Stephenson, a malnutrition expert at Washington University in St. Louis.
Famine is Felt for Generations
Starvation in Gaza today will harm not only those going hungry now, but could also affect their children and grandchildren. If a mother is malnourished during pregnancy, her baby faces a higher risk of diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and mental-health challenges later in life.
Young children who experience prolonged hunger can suffer irreversible growth and learning delays. This can lead to poor school performance, fragile health, and reduced earning potential as adults, effects that can echo through generations.
Hunger can also alter gene expression, and these changes may be passed to future generations. War, displacement, unsafe water, and disease in Gaza only magnify these risks. While some damage can be reversed with good nutrition and care, prolonged hunger greatly increases the chance of lasting harm.
Seeking Food More Dangerous than Starvation
As if starvation weren’t enough, the act of seeking food can be just as deadly. Many have been killed while approaching food distribution sites, deterring others from even trying.
“It has left us in a perilous situation. Do I die of starvation, or do I risk my life trying to get the food I need to survive?” said Fatima, a mother of three surviving children in Gaza.
“I went to Khan Yunis to get flour for my kids. I climbed a truck and gathered some supplies, and then a grenade was thrown at us,” said Ali, age 22.
These are choices no human being should ever face, yet in Gaza, they are a daily reality.
LIFE is Saving Lives in Gaza
Despite severe access restrictions, supply delays, and security risks, Life for Relief and Development USA (LIFE) was able to get some aid into Gaza in the last two weeks. We delivered life-saving aid to 9,500 of the most vulnerable families across Gaza, directly benefiting 17,000 people and indirectly aiding another 30,000. Distributions included 3,000 emergency food packs, 18,000 hot meals, 1,500 hygiene kits, and 2,000 baby and mother support packs, targeting displaced families, women, children, and overcrowded shelters.
We must continue to prepare and send as much aid as we can. Even though there are not a lot of trucks getting through the border, they are getting through. We must not stop. Families, orphans, and individuals in Gaza need us now more than ever.
This is a global call to action. We must continue to try and not give up hope. Please give generously, as your gift can give a child a chance to live tomorrow.
