By Suleman Chitera
Gaza – A slow death is unfolding in Gaza. One that doesn’t come with the roar of warplanes, but with the silence of empty stomachs and the cries of starving children.
Nearly 200 people – including 96 children – have died of hunger, according to Gaza’s health authorities. And that number rises daily. On Thursday alone, four more lives were lost to famine and malnutrition, two of them innocent children.
This is not a natural disaster. It is a man-made famine, born of blockade, bombardment, and bureaucratic neglect.
“It’s like the end of the world here,” says an aid worker near Gaza City, where hundreds of desperate families claw through rubble to grab aid pallets dropped from the sky. “People are fighting over flour. Kids are fainting in the streets.”
The World Health Organization has sounded the alarm: as of July, more than 12,000 children under the age of five are suffering from acute malnutrition – the highest figure ever recorded in Gaza.
Aid is coming, but not safely. Risky airdrops and deadly aid centers, including those run by the GHF, have become scenes of chaos and heartbreak. Some people have died trying to get help.
What was once a vibrant city now looks like a graveyard of dreams. Homes reduced to dust. Markets empty. And children – who should be learning, laughing, and living – are instead wasting away in silence.
In the words of a Gaza doctor: “We are no longer treating patients. We are witnessing slow-motion executions.”
This is Gaza today. Not just a war zone. A hunger zone. A place where even hope is starving.
