Tag: Gaza

Aid agencies and medical professionals have joined forces to call for a ceasefire to allow life-saving polio vaccinations to be administered to about 640,000 children aged under 10. This follows confirmation of the first case of polio in Gaza in 25 years, with reports of other suspected cases emerging.

At least 50,000 children born during the past 10 months of hostilities are highly unlikely to have received any immunisations due to the collapsed health system. While older children among the one million children in Gaza will have had their regular vaccine schedules disrupted or halted by violence and displacement.

Polio had been eliminated in Gaza more than two decades ago, but last month the WHO reported that the virus had been found in sewage samples from sites in Khan Younis and Deir Al-Balah. This month, one case was confirmed by Gaza’s Ministry of Health in an unvaccinated 10-month-old child in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

The reemergence of the poliovirus in Gaza is a direct result of the destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure, and the Government of Israel’s restrictions on repairs and supplies. Coupled with overcrowding, displacement, and a crippled healthcare system, these actions have created an environment ripe for the spread of the virus in Gaza.

A group of about 20 aid agencies and 20 medical professionals who have worked in Gaza said polio vaccines are in the region and ready to be distributed in August and September. However, this requires full access for humanitarian supplies into Gaza from all border crossings, and safe, unhindered movement within the Strip. This can only be achieved with an immediate end to hostilities.

“Now polio is confirmed, the response needs to be measured in hours, not weeks. Without immediate action, an entire generation is at risk of infection, and hundreds of children face paralysis by a highly communicable disease that can be prevented with a simple vaccine,” said Jeremy Stoner, Save the Children’s Regional Director for the Middle East. “These children do not have the luxury of time.” 

Polio, a virus that can cause irreversible paralysis in a matter of hours, is particularly dangerous in Gaza, where high malnutrition rates and toxic stress levels make children more vulnerable to infection. With Ministry of Health confirmations of polio in a 10-month-old in Deir Al-Balah, and WHO reports confirming the presence of poliovirus in wastewater, the situation is beyond alarming.

Humanitarian operations across Gaza are severely hindered by the ongoing bombardment and the obstruction of critical aid supplies and fuel at Israeli-controlled crossing points, and dangerous transit inside the Gaza Strip. Specialist refrigerated trucks needed to safely transport vaccines have been repeatedly rejected from entry, leaving thousands of children at risk.

“The health system in Gaza was destroyed long ago,” said Nahed Abu Iyada, CARE West Bank and Gaza’s Health Program Field Officer. “Without an immediate ceasefire and access to vaccines and humanitarian aid across the Strip, the people of Gaza are facing a public health disaster that will spread and endanger children across the region and beyond.”

Humanitarian organisations urgently call for an immediate and sustained ceasefire to allow polio vaccinations to take place in Gaza. For a polio vaccination campaign to be effective, it must be able to reach at least 95% of targeted children, and this cannot happen in an active war zone. Any ceasefire or pause requested by the UN must be used to facilitate full humanitarian access, not just for vaccines but for the full range of assistance needed to sustain civilians’ basic needs. All parties to conflict have an obligation to facilitate humanitarian access at all times, regardless of whether conflict is active or not.

Notes to Editors

The World Health Organization has confirmed the presence of poliovirus in Gaza.

Polio can cause total paralysis within hours and is especially dangerous for children under five.

Signed

• Islamic Relief Worldwide
• MedGlobal
• ActionAid
• Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP)
• War Child
• Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
• WeWorld
• CARE
• Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP)
• Humanity & Inclusion/ Handicap International (HI)
• DanChurchAid
• ChildFund Alliance
• Plan International
• Accion Contra el Hambre (ACF)
• Médicos del Mundo (Médecins du Monde Spain)
• Oxfam
• International Rescue Committee
• Mercy Corps
• Children Not Numbers NGO
• Save the Children

Doctors and medical professionals

Feroze Sidhwa, MD, MPH, FACS, FICS

Trauma, critical care, acute care, and General Surgeon

Served at European Hospital, Khan Younis, March 25 – April 8, 2024

French Camp, CA

Thaer Ahmad, MD

Emergency Medicine Physician

Served at Nasser Hospital, January 2024

John Kahler, MD, FAAP

MedGlobal Cofounder

Served in Tel al-Sultan, Rafah, Gaza, January,  March 2024

Abdullah Ghali, MD

Orthopedic Surgery Resident

European Hospital in Khan Younis, April 3 – 8, 2024

Houston, TX

Abeerah Muhammad MSN, RN, CEN

Emergency and Critical Care Nurse

European Hospital, May 2024

Yipeng Ge, MD, MPH, CCFP

Primary Care Physician and Public Health Practitioner

Tal Al Sultan Primary Health Care Center in Rafah, February 12-19, 2024

Ottawa, Canada

Benjamin Thomson, MD, MSc, MPH(c), FRCPC

Internal Medicine, Nephrology, Public Health

Multiple sites in Rafah, Deir-el-balah

March 2024

Toronto, Canada

Noor Amin, MD, CCFP(SEM), FCFP

Primary Care, Emergency and Sports Medicine physician

Al Aqsa Hospital and European Gaza Hospital April 2024

Mississauga, Canada

Ahmad Yousaf, MD

Internal Medicine/Pediatrician

Al-Aqsa Shushes Hospital, June 24- July 16, 2024

Nabeel Rana, MD

Vascular Surgeon

Served at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, Deir al-Balah, June 20 – July 9, 2024

Hina Cheema, MD

Obstetrician and Gynecologist

Served in Al Emirati hospital, Rafah March 2024

Served in Nassar hospital, Khan Younis, June-July, 2024

Ahmed Ebeid

Anesthesia

Served in European General Hospital, January – February 2024

Served in Kamal Eledwan Hospital, March – April 2024

Bilal Piracha, MD

Clinical Assistant Professor Emergency Medicine

Served at Aqsa Hospital, DeirAl-Balah, March 7 -19 & July 19- 25, 2024

Served at Al Ahli Hospital (Gaza City), July 26 – August 1, 2024

Professor Nick Maynard MS, FRCS, FRCSEd

Consultant Surgeon (General and Thoracic Surgery)

Oxford University Hospitals, Oxford, UK
Served as member of Medical Aid for Palestinians Emergency Medical teams in Gaza:

December 26, 2023 – January 8, 2024, Al Aqsa Hospital, Deir Al Balah, Gaza

April 22– May 6,  2024, Al Aqsa Hospital, Deir Albalah, Gaza

Javid Abdelmoneim FRCP, DTMH

Emergency Medicine Physician

Nasser Medical Complex, Khan Younis June – July 2024

Khaled Dawas MD, FRCS (General Surgeon)

Consultant Surgeon

University College London Hospitals

Member of Medial Aid for Palestinians Emergency Medical Teams in Gaza 2023/4

Dr. Trish Scanlan

Paediatrician  & Co-Medical Director

Children Not Numbers

Dr James Smith MBBS, MA, MSc, MSc

Emergency Physician, UK

Lecturer in Humanitarian Policy and Practice, UCL, UK

Served in Al Aqsa Hospital, December 16, 2023 – January 8, 2024

Served in Al-Mawasi, Rafah, Al-Aqsa Hospital, & supported patient evacuations ins Gaza City, North Gaza)

Alia Kattan MD

Anesthesia and Critical Care Medicine

Served in European General Hospital, Gaza, April 29 – May 17, 2024

Tanya Haj-Hassan, BMBCh, MSc

Served in Gaza, March 11-25, 2024

Fatal attacks on aid workers have risen to an all-time high and are being carried out with impunity, Islamic Relief is warning ahead of World Humanitarian Day (19 August).

At least 456 aid workers have been killed in 33 countries since the beginning of 2023, with last year the deadliest on record and this year continuing at the same rate. Another 472 aid workers have been wounded or kidnapped in the same period.

New data published this week shows that fatal attacks on humanitarian workers have increased by 400% over the last 20 years – with 280 killed in 2023 compared to 56 killed in 2004. So far, in 2024, at least 176 have already been killed. The 2023 total is almost double any previous year in the last two decades.

Israeli attacks on Gaza account for more than half of the fatalities, with at least 286 aid workers – almost all Palestinian – killed in Gaza since 7 October 2023. Israel’s relentless bombing has turned Gaza into the world’s deadliest place to deliver aid, with hospitals, ambulances, schools, shelters, aid convoys, offices, and other civilian infrastructure targeted and destroyed. 

Humanitarian workers are coming under frequent attack in other countries too, with Sudan and South Sudan the next deadliest places to deliver aid. At least 37 aid workers have been killed in Sudan since war broke out there in April 2023, while dozens of staff have been assaulted and over 120 humanitarian offices and warehouses have been looted by armed groups.

With record numbers of people around the world in need of humanitarian aid, these increasing attacks on aid workers are having a chilling effect on the world’s most vulnerable people.

Attacks against humanitarian workers – and their premises and assets – violate international law. Yet we are seeing increasing disregard for these laws, and a failure to hold attackers accountable.

Islamic Relief is calling for UN member states to step up efforts to protect humanitarian workers, assets, and premises – as called for in UN Security Council Resolution 2730 which was adopted in May this year. They should also hold perpetrators to account for violations.

More must be done to protect local aid workers. Attacks on international aid workers — such as the killing of World Central Kitchen staff in Gaza in April — sometimes attract headlines and global condemnation. However, most of the aid workers killed and attacked are national staff, who get just a fraction of the attention.

An Islamic Relief aid worker in Gaza, whose name is withheld for his safety, says:

Notes

World Humanitarian Day was set up by the UN General Assembly in 2009 to recognise humanitarian workers killed around the world. It is marked every year on 19 August, the day on which 23 people were killed in the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad in 2003.

Data for attacks on aid workers comes from the Aid Worker Security Database managed by Humanitarian Outcomes: https://www.aidworkersecurity.org/

The killing of 40,000 people in Gaza should be a source of eternal global shame, Islamic Relief Worldwide says.

These 40,000 people are not just numbers. They include babies, children, mothers, fathers, farmers, shopkeepers, students, teachers, journalists, doctors, aid workers, artists, entrepreneurs, grandparents and much more. Gaza’s entire society is being killed as the world watches.

There can be no justification for this massacre, which is taking place in full sight of world leaders who have repeatedly failed or refused to act. These deaths are the inevitable consequence of allowing international law to be violated with impunity. As the death toll rises above 40,000, Palestinians in Gaza do not need more hollow words from international governments – they need meaningful action. Governments must do everything in their power to pressure Israel to stop the killing, including halting arms sales, suspending trade agreements and supporting accountability.

To say there is nowhere safe in Gaza has become a startling understatement.

Civilians have become moving targets. Israel has bombed civilians in homes, schools, mosques, churches, markets, hospitals, and refugee camps. The Israeli military has ordered families to leave their homes and go to shelters, then bombed them in those shelters. Hundreds have been killed in just the past few days.

These include dozens of people torn to pieces when Israel bombed a school where hundreds of families had sought refuge. At the same time, Israel continues to block sufficient humanitarian aid from reaching people, using starvation as a weapon of war and pushing communities into famine.

40,000 people killed in just over 10 months is almost impossible to comprehend. But in reality, the death toll is likely to be even higher, with thousands of bodies still unaccounted for and many presumed to be still under the rubble. Many academics expect tens of thousands more people will die from hunger, disease, and denial of access to medical care. As needs have increased, the amount of aid allowed in by Israel has gone down.

Another 92,000 people have been wounded, many of them with permanent life-changing injuries such as loss of limbs. An incredible 1 in every 17 Palestinians in Gaza have now been killed or wounded. There is not a single person or family untouched by this horror.

It is too late for tens of thousands of people, but this killing must stop, and it must stop now.

An Islamic Relief aid worker* in Gaza searches for meaning after a deadly airstrike on a school-turned-shelter, but finds only incomprehensible horror. 

It was an extremely terrifying day. I woke up to the news that Israel had targeted a space for prayer at al-Tabeen School. (A shelter) where hundreds of displaced families have been sheltering. I instantly thought about my friends and colleagues in Islamic Relief. I started calling them. Alhamdulillah, they were all safe and sound. But they had lived through one of the worst experiences of their lives.  

“We heard a huge explosion not far from where I was staying,” one of my friends told me. “I could hear ambulances and firefighters rushing to the area. The noise continued until the sun had risen.” 

I remembered there was a hospital in the area where, before this crisis began, Islamic Relief supported services for newborn children. I asked my friend if this hospital was treating the injured from this new attack, but he said no. The only partially functioning hospital nearby is the Baptist Hospital (Al-Ahli Arab Hospital) where a huge attack in the first month of the war caused hundreds of deaths. That’s now the only place where the injured can receive any care. In fact, the people of Gaza are starting to see our healthcare centres as places that just handle dead bodies and prepare them for burials. North Gaza’s health sector is turning into a funeral home due to the lack of medicine, disposables and equipment.  

My friend told me that he had to have surgery to remove a bladder stone but couldn’t find anywhere in North Gaza still equipped to do the surgery. He had to undergo temporary bypass surgery just to help his bladder function properly, but he told me he’s in pain whenever he moves, walks or climbs the stairs. He has to endure because he has no other option.  

A sad morning, the smell of death everywhere 

After a while, I ended the call with my friend and went back to the news. Videos started appearing showing terrible scenes – tens of dead bodies; men, women and children. They had all been preparing to perform Al Fajr prayer. Some had finished their ablutions, some had just said Allahu Akbar, some might have just finished reading Al Fateha. It is beyond comprehension that their lives would end this way.  

“It is a sad morning in the city. The smell of death is everywhere,” another colleague from my team told me. “We used to deliver hot meals to that place every day. It was home to hundreds of displaced families. Any one of our teammates could have been among those who passed away.” 

An even more terrorising situation

Yes, at this stage of the war, the situation is even more terrorising than in the first few days. An airstrike can hit anywhere. Just a couple of days ago, my wife and kids went to visit my in-laws who have moved for the fourth time and are now closer to us. Just after they arrived, an airstrike hit nearby. Rubble was falling everywhere. One of the doors in the house where they’re staying blew open due to the blast. My wife and kids could have so easily been in the street. I might have lost them.  

Every day I go to work thinking an airstrike could hit nearby. I went to meet with displaced families at one of the schools that have been turned into shelters and I was so afraid that something would happen while I was there, especially as targeting schools is the norm these days. I can’t imagine why on Earth a school, mosque or hospital could be seen as a target. In the last week, at least 5 schools were destroyed in Gaza. I can’t bear to think about the future of the children who study in those schools. Where will they get their education after the war? 

Tired of being slaughtered 

After the attack on Saturday, healthcare workers couldn’t distinguish between the remains of the dead. The bombing produces tremendous heat that melts bodies. All hospital staff could do was put the remains in plastic bags. Families looking for their loved ones were given a 70kg bag of flesh if the missing person was an adult and an 18kg bag if they were a child. Families took these remains to the cemetery and buried it with a name on the gravestone.  

When I think about what is happening to us, the Palestinian people, I can’t comprehend it properly. We are now subjected to all kinds of torture, agony, deprivation and targeting. I can’t think of any nation in the world that has suffered like us. 

This is beyond humanity. This is something not even the darkest horror movie director could have thought of. The world that is watching is not human anymore. I’ve lost the belief that I can be normal after this. I’ve lost faith in the world. I write my words and erase them. (Nor can’t I) come up with a sentence to properly describe how I feel. I just want this madness to stop because we are tired of being slaughtered. We are being annihilated and the world is watching without doing anything. This is crazy. The consciousness of the world is dead. 

*This blog is anonymised to protect the safety and security of our colleague and others mentioned. Read the other blogs in this series here.  

Editor’s note: This blog was submitted amid a fast-changing and deepening crisis. The information was correct as of Monday 12 August.  

Islamic Relief is horrified at the massacre of dozens of civilians at one of the school shelters where we have been distributing daily hot meals to displaced families.  

The Devastation of the Assault

The attack at al-Tabeen school in Gaza City on August 10th, 2024 has been the deadliest on a school shelter yet. Witnesses report 80-100 people killed and many more injured.

During the assault, Israeli missiles tore through the school’s classrooms and prayer room during dawn Fajr prayers. Around 2,000 young children, women, and men had been sheltering at the school. Forcibly displaced after the Israeli military ordered them to leave their homes.

The nearest hospital is overwhelmed with casualties. Many are badly burnt or bleeding severely from shrapnel wounds. Worse still, the hospital does not have the medical supplies to treat them all. 

Another Shelter Bombed in Gaza

We are horrified, but, sadly, we are no longer shocked by such massacres. Israel continues to bomb people’s shelters almost daily. All with complete impunity and disregard for international law. 85% of all schools in Gaza (477 out of 564) have now been damaged by bombing.

The school is one of many across Gaza where Islamic Relief and partner agencies have been providing daily cooked meals to families. These meals are often the only ones they get to eat each day, as famine conditions and starvation have spread.

Islamic Relief has also conducted psychosocial activities such as games and entertainment for displaced children at the school. No Islamic Relief staff or partners were present at the time of the bombing.

No Safe Place in Gaza

This latest massacre brings the death toll in Gaza to almost 40,000 Palestinians, with around 92,000 injured. An astounding 1 in every 17 people in Gaza has now been killed or wounded. This is in just over 10 months. And every single person in Gaza is affected.

Tens of thousands more people have been ordered to move yet again over the past few days. The Israeli military is herding people into small areas that are now extremely overcrowded and rife with starvation and disease. Many families have now been displaced 9 or 10 times over the past 10 months and the amount of aid being allowed into Gaza has reduced to little more than a trickle.

The international community has completely failed the people of Gaza. World leaders must use all the pressure they can to demand an immediate ceasefire and an end to the constant forced displacement and attacks on fleeing civilians, and ensure accountability for such actions.

We are appalled at yet another deadly massacre at a school in central Gaza where desperate families have been ordered to shelter.   

Reports indicate that at least 30 people were killed and over 100 injured at the school in Deir al Balah, with infant children among the dead and hospitals swamped with casualties. Such atrocities against civilians have become almost daily occurrences in Gaza.  

Israel’s policy of constantly forcing civilians to move from one place to another, and then attacking the schools and camps where they are told to go, is inhumane and causing unprecedented death and trauma. It is making the humanitarian crisis even more catastrophic by the day. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to move time and again over the past few weeks, with many families now displaced 9 or 10 times since the crisis escalated.  

Around 83% of Gaza is now subject to Israeli so-called ‘evacuation orders’ or no-go military zones. Over 2 million people have been forced into ever smaller areas where they cannot access food, clean water or sanitation, and where they face the constant threat of further attack.  

International governments must demand an immediate ceasefire and an end to the constant forced displacement and attacks on fleeing civilians, and ensure accountability for such actions.  

Today, we received extremely sad news from our orphan sponsorship team. Mohammad Bhar, the young man in Gaza, who was recently killed by Israeli military dogs, was one of the orphans in the care of Islamic Relief. 

As it turns out, Mohammed has been part of our orphan sponsorship program since he was young.

On behalf, and along with the entire Islamic Relief family, I am utterly heartbroken. We are appalled at the horrific nature of his killing, which is shocking even amidst the daily atrocities in Gaza.

We are calling for an independent international investigation into his death, and for all responsible to be held accountable.  

Mohammad, 24, was killed during Israel’s recent attack on the Shujaiya neighbourhood of Gaza City, where he and his family lived. 

His mother, Nabila, told Islamic Relief that Israeli soldiers forced their way into the family’s home.

Mohammed had Down syndrome and autism. He barely spoke. But when the military dog started mauling a terrified Mohammad, tearing at his body, he screamed in agony and pleaded for the attack to stop. 

With Mohammad severely bleeding, the Israeli soldiers moved him to another room on his own. Despite the fact that his illness meant that his family was usually with him for support at all times. 

The soldiers refused to allow Mohammad’s mother or sister to enter the room to comfort him or bring him water. Shortly afterwards, they forced them to leave the house at gunpoint while he was still alive. 

Mohammad was left alone in the dark room, critically wounded, scared and thirsty, until he died. 

His body was only recovered a week later. When the Israeli military withdrew, allowing his family and neighbours to rush to the house to find his remains.  

There are no words that convey our shock, sadness, and how appalled we are. 

We complain to Allah, and say Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajioon. 

After so many months of atrocities, it is hard to be shocked any more by news from Gaza. But the killing of Mohammad reached new depths of horror. One that has left everyone at Islamic Relief utterly heartbroken. 

We can only imagine the fear and panic that Mohammad must have felt as he died. Alone, wounded and without his family beside him. All our prayers are with Mohammad’s family and friends.

There must be accountability for such acts. There must be an immediate ceasefire to finally bring the massacre in Gaza to an end.

An Islamic Relief staff member in Gaza recalls: “Mohammad was a familiar face in the neighbourhood, known for his kind smile and helpful nature. He was suffering from Down’s syndrome and autism and had special needs all his life, so his mother took care of every detail of his life, from feeding him to dressing him.” 

Mohammad’s father died when Mohammad was just 2 years old. Since then, he and his mother have received support through Islamic Relief’s orphan sponsorship program for over 20 years.

During Israel’s attacks over the past 9 months, the family has been forcibly displaced from their home multiple times, like most families in Gaza.  

The orphan sponsorship program provides regular cash payments to help vulnerable families pay for healthcare, education, shelter and other essentials.

Islamic Relief currently sponsors 15,700 orphaned children and youth in Gaza. Sponsorship begins when children are under 18 years old. However, they can be continued later while they remain in school or if they are particularly vulnerable, as in the case of Mohammed.

At least 117 children and young people cared for by our Orphan Sponsorship Program are known to have been killed during Israel’s attack on Gaza over the past 9 months.

We ask Allah (SWT) to alleviate the suffering of Gaza’s children, orphans, and people more generally. Ya rabb, lift this barbarity, and replace it with victory and peace for our people. 

—Samir Bennegadi, Islamic Relief Australia CEO

Today’s International Court of Justice ruling that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory is unlawful sends a clear message that the occupation must end. No state must be above international law, and we hope this landmark ruling will be a step towards ending injustice and fulfilling the inalienable rights of Palestinians.

The Israeli occupation denies Palestinians their fundamental human rights, undermines their dignity and entrenches discrimination and poverty. Israel’s massive expansion of settlements and associated infrastructure in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has confiscated land and restricted access to markets, farms and essential services. The occupation separates families and loved ones, cuts off Gaza from the West Bank, and impedes the hopes and dreams of future generations.

We call on all international governments to heed the ICJ’s ruling and use their political, diplomatic and financial leverage to pressure Israel to end its occupation. This includes halting arms sales that could be used in violation of international law, legislating to ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements, and suspending partnership agreements.

Ultimately, Islamic Relief wants to see a lasting peace where all Palestinians and Israelis can live in safety and dignity, and have their same fundamental rights upheld and protected. We believe this will not be possible until there is an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

“People bombed as they pray and aid workers fleeing for their lives.” An Islamic Relief colleague* in Gaza describes the struggle to cling to hope as the death toll rises still further. 

I do not know the number of deaths today. But I am sure the death toll has risen again.

Earlier in this crisis, people talked loudly about the devastation inflicted on Palestine. But, now, those voices are quieter, and only silence greets the growing death toll. 

We Palestinians feel we have been left behind. We feel alone. That our lives are seen as less valuable than others.

We feel exhausted by this brutal war. We have had enough.

As people of faith, we always thank Allah. But we are sincerely praying for an end to this. Everyone has sustained their share of loss, injury, death, and displacement. Nobody can tolerate any more.  

We need an end to this war.  

I know my words reach only a small audience, but I hope you can spread the echo of my cry for help. My plea for everyone in the world to call for an end to the war.

Please, my readers, do what you can to stop this madness.  

Islamic Relief colleagues forced to flee for their lives 

I am writing these words after hearing about a new airstrike in Khan Younis that killed around 100 displaced people. People who had been living in tents after losing their homes, their loved ones, and their livelihoods.

When they were ordered to evacuate their homes, they did. When they were expected to do without proper food, water, and sanitation, they did.

The international community said they would protect them. Yet, they did not.  

This strike comes just a couple of days after an Israeli land operation in Gaza City’s Tal Al Hawa and Al Remal neighbourhoods.

I’d spoken with colleagues in the city to plan media coverage of Islamic Relief’s work there. The team had just settled and started operating again, but in the blink of an eye, they had to run for their lives, not knowing where to go.  

It was difficult to reach my colleagues by phone, but I finally got through. 

“I have to return to my house, despite the destruction,” one colleague told me, describing his efforts to remove rubble from his apartment. “We do not have water. The sewage network is destroyed. There is no electricity. I am trying to make one room suitable to sleep in.” 

He told me that most of the things in his home are damaged, and his clothes have either been stolen or torn by explosives. I heard that his children are trying to find a safe spot to stay the night. I do not think he is okay.

We used to have great times together in his house. His wife made wonderful mahshy. We enjoyed the spicy stuffed vegetables when he invited us for dinner. But now I’m sure they can barely eat.  

How many more bodies until this nightmare ends? 

I ask myself, why is this happening to us? What have we done? We were just trying to live a normal life: I wanted to learn to swim. I planned to lose weight. I liked reading novels – I wonder what happened to the bookshop?

Why must we live in this hell? Is it just because we are Palestinians? What if we were suffering not at Israel’s hands, but another’s? Would the world take the same position? Would the world accept the killing?  

I read that Israel targeted a place of prayer set up by young people next to a ruined mosque in Gaza City. They spread rugs, added Qur’ans, and prayed. 15 of them were killed performing Al Duhr (noon) prayer.  

I have no more words.  

Maimed by sorrow and loss 

We Palestinians are maimed by the sorrow and loss that we endure. How many more deaths do we need to stop this war? How many more beheaded bodies of children and mass graves? What are you doing, my dear world? 

Alhamdulillah, all my Islamic Relief colleagues in Gaza in the south and the north are ok. But who knows for how much longer: at any moment, we could become the next casualties of this crisis.

We go to work every day, leaving our children and our families, risking our lives to help vulnerable people survive. We try our best to help, although the ecosystem around us is barely functioning.  

My young son now wants to come to work with me on a daily basis, because he is afraid to leave my side. Losing a child or another family member is one of my worst fears. I can’t imagine that life. I do not want to think of this. 

My mental health is poor. I do not know what to say anymore; I am not thinking straight.

The scenes that confront me every day are sucking the life from me. If these are my last words to you, please tell the world our story.

Tell of the Palestinians who loved life. Who taught resilience. Who just hoped to live simple, normal lives.  

*This blog is anonymised to protect the safety and security of our colleague and others mentioned. Read the other blogs in this series here. 

Editor’s note: This blog was submitted amid a fast-changing and deepening crisis. The information was correct as of Monday 15 July 2024. 

Israel is systematically starving Palestinians in Gaza, Islamic Relief reports. A new IPC* report shows that around half a million people are suffering catastrophic levels of hunger. Furthermore, almost everyone in Gaza is facing acute food shortages.

An entire generation of Palestinian children is at risk. Extreme hunger and malnutrition cause permanent damage to children. Conditions such as stunted physical and cognitive development will affect them for the rest of their lives.

Hunger Intensifies in Gaza

The IPC report confirms what Islamic Relief staff and partners in Gaza are seeing every day. Hundreds of thousands of people going entire days and nights without anything to eat at all. Young children and elderly people, especially, are the most vulnerable to hunger and malnutrition.

This hunger crisis is entirely man-made, caused by Israel’s ongoing attacks and blockade. Virtually all of Gaza’s internal food production has been wiped out. Nowhere near enough humanitarian aid is being allowed in. Israel continues to restrict entry of supplies into Gaza and movement of aid convoys within Gaza.

Israel’s assault on Rafah has fuelled starvation even further. Around 1 million people are forced to flee yet again and families are bombed while seeking aid and shelter. In the past day, more civilians have reportedly been killed for seeking refuge in a school and trying to reach aid trucks.

The new IPC report shows that the brief improvement in food security in March and April – when there was a small increase in aid allowed to enter and more food in the markets – is now being reversed, with fatal consequences.

A Call to Take Stronger Action

Islamic Relief urges international governments not to wait for an official famine declaration before taking stronger action. Aid agencies have been warning of famine for months, but official famine declarations are extremely rare and usually only come when it is too late. We do not need a famine announcement to know that Palestinians, especially young children, are starving and cannot access sufficient aid.

International initiatives like the sea pier and airdrops have been costly distractions while people starve. The only way to ensure people can access sufficient food is through a ceasefire and full unimpeded humanitarian access. International governments must use all the leverage and pressure they can to ensure that happens immediately.

Since the crisis erupted almost 9 months ago, Islamic Relief and partners have distributed more than 23 million ready-to-eat cooked meals to displaced people throughout Gaza and provided nutritional support to thousands of young children, pregnant women and new mothers, as well as other vital aid. However, much more is needed.

Image: Islamic Relief prepares and distributes ready-to-eat meals to children and families in Gaza.

*The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is the foremost hunger monitoring system, providing evidence-based analysis on food insecurity and malnutrition to inform emergency responses around the world. https://www.ipcinfo.org/