The media is starting to acknowledge that Israel is systematically starving the people of Gaza. They’re still tiptoeing around the topic, but they’re starting to cover it, as we saw on Morning Joe today.
“Three Israeli military officials familiar with the conditions in Gaza tell the New York Times Palestinians in the territory face widespread starvation unless access to aid is restored within weeks. Israel has insisted on its blockade on Gaza, which has been in effect since early March, does not threaten civilians despite famine warnings from the U.N.,” Mika Brzezinski said.
“Joining us now, Doctor Aqsa Durrani. She’s a board member of Doctors Without Borders, and she just returned to the U.S. from an assignment in Gaza working at a field hospital. Can you tell us what you saw in that hospital?”
“What I saw children was the manifestation of these inhuman policies. Children who were starving and hungry already. And in the ICU where I worked, even early on in the siege, we had a one-year-old infant who had presented with burns resulting from an airstrike, and at that point, the cost of food was already prohibitive for vulnerable families,” Dr. Durrani said.
“So his nutritional status overwhelmed, you know, it led to an infection. and then he ended up succumbing to his injuries. He was killed by this. So already we are. seeing children who are impacted by this, by this starvation. We are also, I also had another four year old patient who was also admitted for burns after an airstrike, whose mother was begging me for more food. And I had to tell her, I had to look her in the eyes and say, I don’t have any. You know, we don’t have any additional food to give him.
“And this is unconscionable, given that there is food just miles away. You know, being blocked by the Israeli authorities. It’s systematic. It’s deliberate, and it’s cruel.”
She described people living on canned, processed food that they either stockpiled, or found in the rubble after bombing.
“Doctor Durrani, where is the food coming from that they’re getting at all, the people of Gaza, these children. you’re talking about, these families. If those humanitarian shipments aren’t making it in, what’s the source of their food?” Willie Geist asked.
“The sources of food that people have right now are are processed canned foods that you know, that they may have had from before. But all of that is dwindling. We are seeing that even our staff, even the doctors, you know, nurses. Everyone who’s working at the hospital are eating one meal per day. and they are — that those are the conditions that they’re they’re living in and providing care for their community,” Dussani said.
“Doctor, the New York Times is reporting that some Israeli military officials are concluding that Gaza is on the brink of starvation. You were there for a few months. How much did you see the situation deteriorate while you were there? And how close do you think Gaza is to people starving to death?” Katy Kay asked.
“I can tell you that we have already seen it is already too late. Every day that this continues. it is criminal. It is criminal. I have no other words,” she said.
“We have already seen that. Like I said, that children and women and men, that the the people are suffering from this inhumane siege. And what is so, you know, that makes us even more criminal is that their tiny bodies are being ravaged by airstrikes and then we can’t even manage to provide them with more food. We have already seen these impacts. We’ve already heard of deaths from malnutrition. We’ve already heard of deaths all across the strip.
“We are screening more and more children for malnutrition. So, you know, while while we wait for this classification, we are at each day is, it’s just too late.”