Get the latest news and updates from Dawn
It starts with the body eating itself, consuming all the energy stored in its nooks and crannies. Then begins the shedding: weight, hair, skin, muscles, colour, sanity. And finally, when months pass, all that remains are shadows of a self that once was. Slowly, the heart and liver stop functioning, and soon after, death descends.
This is the story of two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, who have been stripped of food, water, shelter, dignity and a future. It is a story that started well before the onslaught began on Oct 7, 2023, following the Hamas attack on Israel.
In the two years since, the Israeli military has pretty much flattened Gaza, killing almost 70,000 people, injuring and maiming thousands of others and displacing hundreds of thousands. But some in Gaza consider the deceased lucky — at least they don’t have to witness their loved ones slowly starve to death.
While the signs started showing way back, officially, a famine was declared in the enclave on August 22 this year. According to the Integrated Security Phase Classification (IPC) — a standardised global system for analysing and classifying the severity of acute and chronic food insecurity and acute malnutrition — more than half a million Palestinians are trapped, starving to death, in the Strip.
