Amid the stifling famine gripping the Gaza Strip, Fadi Abu Arjila, 32, who suffers from kidney failure, lies on a dialysis machine at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis, his body thin and his face pale.
Abu Arjila suffers from a severe shortage of essential food before and during his dialysis sessions. This is due to the tight Israeli blockade that has been in place since March 2025, which has closed the crossings and prevented the entry of humanitarian aid, making obtaining a meal a daily challenge for two million Palestinians.
Abu Arjila has never experienced a more difficult time, fearing death by starvation more than his illness. He lives with his wife and child in a tent in Bani Suhaila after his home in Khuza’a was destroyed.
Before the war, his life was stable despite his illness. Today, he faces shortages of food, medicine, and clean water, with the price of simple medications like Acamol rising from one shekel to ten shekels.
Famine is spreading to Gaza’s hospitals, where Manal Khaled, 31, who is seven months pregnant, is suffering from malnutrition and low weight for her and her fetus, threatening premature birth.
Markets are empty, aid is cut off, and Manal relies on lentil soup from a charity that is threatened with closure. Doctors like Dr. Mohammed Barbakh link the rise in miscarriages and premature births to malnutrition.
In operating rooms, famine is affecting surgical decisions, as doctors are forced to postpone or replace operations due to patients’ malnutrition, prolonging recovery times and increasing pressure on hospitals, with occupancy rates reaching 150%. Dr. Ezz El-Din Shaheen warns that famine threatens the lives of patients and the wounded and affects medical staff who are suffering from exhaustion and food shortages.
Famine, coupled with the blockade, is exacerbating the suffering of vulnerable groups such as pregnant women and kidney patients and threatening public health in Gaza, where hunger and death have become daily occurrences.
This comes as Israel continues its intense bombardment of the Strip.
