Gaza child cries from hunger as Israel continues to block humanitarian aid

Abdullah Abu Zarqa, a five‑year‑old Palestinian boy, cries from hunger in a makeshift tent in Khan Younis. Suffering from severe malnutrition, he has developed bone softening and a deformed rib cage, leaving him unable to walk. His family, like so many others in Gaza, is struggling to survive amid extreme food shortages and a lack of access to basic medical care. Almost a third of people in Gaza are unable to access a single meal for days at a time, the World Food Programme announced. "Thousands of people are on the verge of catastrophic hunger," the United Nations agency said. "Food aid is the only real way for people to eat." Israel has blocked humanitarian aid into Gaza since the beginning of March. Since the end of May, a new US‑ and Israel‑backed agency has been providing food at several distribution points, but the food distribution is significantly less than other humanitarian agencies were providing, leading critics to say that starvation is being weaponised as a tool of war. Dozens of children have died of malnutrition in the last few weeks.