The testimonies of our colleagues and partners, combined with the analysis of technical experts are clear – famine is happening in Gaza. Palestinians are suffering a manmade famine, caused by Israel’s siege and the deliberate obstruction of aid, fuelled by the inaction of world leaders. Using starvation as a weapon is a war crime under international humanitarian law. The haunting images of emaciated children are evidence of a failure of humanity to act.
Since January 2025, CARE’s primary healthcare centre in Deir Al-Balah has screened 5,528 children and 2,811 pregnant and breastfeeding women for acute malnutrition. Eleven percent of the children and 36% of the women screened suffered from either moderate or severe acute malnutrition. With the help of UN partners, CARE has provided more than 170,000 ready-to-eat therapeutic and complementary nutritional supplements to help offset malnutrition in children and pregnant or breastfeeding women.
We spoke with mothers and staff at the Deir Al-Balah healthcare centre about their daily struggle for survival. Here are their testimonies.
Noura: “There is no food.”
Noura, 27, carefully cradles her 11-month toddler while waiting in line to get him screened for malnutrition at CARE’s primary healthcare centre in Deir Al-Balah. He has already missed some of his developmental milestones like crawling and teething.
“My son is supposed to be drinking formula milk, but there is none to offer. I give him an empty feeding bottle just to distract him,” says Noura. “I am barely able to breastfeed him, my milk has almost dried up because I’m also not eating well.”
“There is no food, we are like everyone else, if there is food we buy it, but otherwise we are surviving on supplements,” added Noura.
“I am missing everything we used to get, milk for the children, eggs, getting protein from meat and other nutritious food that children need to grow healthy, like fruits, which are really important in a child’s diet. Formula milk has become very expensive. My other children have forgotten what eggs, bananas or watermelons taste like anymore. They now ask me what is a watermelon, mom?”
Dr. Murad Mezyed: “The conditions are indescribable”
Dr. Murad Mezyed is an OBGYN doctor with CARE partner Juzoor. She is doing everything she can to support pregnant women at the Deir Al-Balah health centre while struggling for her own survival.
“Doctors are experiencing the same conditions as the rest of the people. There is no food, no water, and if it was available, it is with great difficulty that people obtain it.
“We do not have the most basic means for survival. We suffer like everyone else from flour and sugar shortages, food and vegetables. There are no fruits and no meat in the market. We are suffering from this like everyone else.
“Pregnant women who visit our clinic commonly suffer from malnutrition and dehydration, we try to help them by providing multivitamin and iron supplements so that they can carry on with their pregnancies.
“The conditions pregnant women and women who gave birth during this war are facing are indescribable. We see dozens of patients on a daily basis who have so many needs like diapers, formula milk, access to nutritious food and clean water, multivitamins and dietary supplements. All of this is not available to them. We are facing famine-like conditions, so we are trying to compensate what they are missing in their diet as much as possible.”
Samah: “I worry about the baby I am carrying”
Samah is a mother of five children. She is currently pregnant with her sixth child, and is displaced in Nuseirat.
“I used to pray everyday that things will get better and that food, water, formula milk and diapers for the children would get in. After an airstrike hit really close to the place we were in, we said we do not want food, we just want an end to the bloodshed and an end to this war, because mentally we are destroyed.
“I travelled a long way to get to this clinic on foot. I am pregnant but I have not eaten anything since yesterday. We have a diabetic family member, he had two surgeries, he is in need of food and water, and safety, but there is none.
“I do not worry about myself when it comes to eating and drinking water, I worry about the baby I’m carrying. I worry about securing diapers and formula milk for my baby. This is the biggest source of stress and pressure that I am experiencing as a mother.”
Life-saving aid must be allowed into Gaza
More than 100 deaths from malnutrition in Gaza have been recorded already. Sadly, we know this will accelerate in the coming days. It is already too late to save the lives of many of the most vulnerable, including the elderly, disabled and infants.
After more than 20 months of political inaction, world leaders must finally take decisive action. We urge the international community to finally secure an immediate and lasting ceasefire, the release of hostages and arbitrarily detained people, and full, safe, unhindered, immediate and sustained access to principled humanitarian aid to all people in need in Gaza. Israeli authorities must end the siege on Gaza, immediately open all border crossings to let aid in and allow humanitarians to do our jobs safely.
How you can help
CARE and our local partners are providing clean water in northern and southern Gaza, and responding through our primary healthcare centre in Deir Al-Balah which sees around 150 people per day.
But we are almost out of supplies. CARE urgently needs more funds so that we can scale up our response in Gaza as soon as the blockade of aid is lifted, and provide women and their communities with life-saving support.
