Gaza’s children face engineered famine

British surgeon Dr. Graeme Groom, recently returned from a volunteer mission in Gaza, painted a harrowing picture of mass hunger and malnutrition, particularly among children and wounded civilians. “What is happening in Gaza is not a natural famine. It’s a man-made catastrophe,” Groom said, recounting scenes of emaciated infants and desperate families.

Since March 2, 2025, Zionist regime has closed all crossings into Gaza, blocking nearly all food and medical aid, triggering widespread famine across the Strip. As of October 7, 2023, Gaza’s Ministry of Health reports that 162 Palestinians have martyred from starvation and malnutrition, including 92 children, while thousands more remain at risk.

Groom said he visited a malnutrition clinic in Gaza on May 27, where a pediatrician told him 60 infants had already died of hunger, including some with lactose intolerance who lacked access to specialized milk. He noted that mothers were often too undernourished to breastfeed, and 12 new cases of severe child malnutrition were being diagnosed daily.

Even medical staff have not been spared. Groom’s colleague, Palestinian anesthesiologist Dr. Nizar Abu Daqqa, told him his own six children, aged between two and 13, could only fill their stomachs with water and salt to fall asleep. Abu Daqqa had managed to buy just eight kilograms of flour for $300, one hundred times the pre-war price, which he said would last only a few days.

The famine has compounded the crisis in Gaza’s health system. American doctor Ambreen Salimi, volunteering with the US-based NGO Bayt al-Mal, said she is routinely forced to perform early caesarean sections due to the lack of nutrition and medicine for pregnant women, many of whom give birth prematurely.

Dr. Groom also shared testimony from Mohammed Hamim, a Palestinian man who sent him videos of civilians being shot while waiting at so-called aid distribution points operated by the Israeli- and US-backed “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.” The footage captured gunfire and scenes of bloodied bodies, reinforcing widespread accusations that the distribution mechanism is being used as a tool of coercion and violence.

Since the introduction of this controversial aid system on May 27, at least 1,383 Palestinians have been martyred, 9,218 wounded, and 45 reported missing during incidents at these distribution points. Critics, including UN agencies, have rejected the “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” as illegitimate and complicit in war crimes.

Palestinians accuse the Israeli-American initiative of attempting to force mass displacement by turning basic aid into a deadly trap. “It is not humanitarian work,” Groom said. “It’s a mechanism for submission—under fire.”