Azra Hoosen | ah@radioislam.co.za
11 August 2025 | 10:30 CAT
2 min read

Starvation in Gaza is no longer a looming threat; it is a brutal daily reality. As the siege tightens, children and the elderly are dying, not only from bombs but from hunger. Aid is blocked, bodies are weakening, and what Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) describes as a “man-made famine” is unfolding before the world’s eyes.

In an interview with Radio Islam, MSF’s Emergency Coordinator in Gaza, Jerome Grimaud, painted a harrowing picture. “Two days ago, five people died of hunger in the Gaza Strip. They are among the nearly 150 people who have died of hunger since the beginning of the year, including 96 children. As I speak, 9,000 children are now being treated for severe acute malnutrition,” he said.

While Grimaud is not a medical doctor, his role on the coordination side gives him direct insight into the crisis. He says the deprivation is deliberate. “This lack of food is completely orchestrated. We are prevented as humanitarian workers from bringing in as much food as we could. There are plenty of trucks waiting outside in Egypt and other corridors that could come in tomorrow. We know that because we have done it before,” he said.

Grimaud recalled that during a brief 42-day ceasefire earlier this year, up to 600 trucks of food and essential goods entered Gaza daily, enough to make a tangible difference. Now, at best, only a fraction of that gets through, and what arrives is often looted amid the collapse of law and order. Some desperate families take food to survive, while newly formed gangs and profiteers, some reportedly supported by Israel, seize supplies for the black market.

Even when food reaches the market, it is not free. “Traders work for profit, so they will sell at the highest price. For many households, it’s impossible to buy. Even though food can be there sometimes, people can’t afford it. That’s why we need humanitarian aid to come, because we deliver the food for free,” he explained.

MSF believes famine is already present, even if not officially declared. “People are already dying of hunger every day. It’s indiscriminate. They cannot pretend they are targeting someone this time. This is a red line for everyone,” he said.

Grimaud warns that starvation is being used as a weapon of war, forcing displacement or breaking public support for one side. “All this is violating the norms we have established since the Second World War… we are talking about the regular army of a democratic state. This is unprecedented,” he added.

Children, especially orphans, are the most vulnerable. “The social fabric is hugely undermined… in that situation, children are not prioritised,” he said.

When asked if famine could still be prevented, Grimaud’s response was stark: “The world has failed Gaza. What we are seeing every day is beyond words… it will stay in history as a failure of our basic humanity.”

To feed Gaza’s 2 million people, at least 400 trucks must enter daily. For now, the trucks wait at the border, the siege continues, and the world watches.

LISTEN to the full interview with Ml Suhaib Lasanya and Jerome Grimaud, MSF’s Emergency Coordinator in Gaza, here.