Gaza on the Brink: Malnutrition, Disease, and Calls for Justice

18 August 2025 | 13:34 CAT
3-minute read

Gaza is enduring a humanitarian catastrophe of staggering proportions—one that blends calculated deprivation, relentless bombardment, and a crumbling health system into a living nightmare.

At the Children’s Hospital within the Nasser Complex, Dr Ahmad al-Farra reports having treated 35 cases of severe malnutrition in a single day, and some 70 over the preceding week, warning that mortality rates are expected to spike as medicine, infant formula, and food remain dangerously scarce.

This emergency is compounded by a brutal heatwave exceeding 40 °C, where limited water supplies and damaged sanitation systems have triggered dehydration and disease outbreaks. Much of Gaza’s critical water and hygiene infrastructure lies within militarised zones or areas under displacement orders, making them nearly inaccessible. The result: mounting malnutrition, especially in children, and an alarming public-health decline.

Humanitarian agencies confirm that this is not a mere consequence of war—but intentional: a spiraling famine driven by long-standing blockade, restrictions on aid, and pervasive targeting of civilian infrastructure. As the UN and multiple rights groups have highlighted, Gaza’s worst famine in modern memory is unfolding before the world.

In this moment, Moulana Ebrahim Musa offered a deeply human lens on the unfolding tragedy. Reflecting on Gaza’s plight, he said that houses continue to be blown up with residents still inside, sprayed with high-explosive bombs “designed to maximise destruction and terrify residents forcing them to flee.”

He also warned of ideological dangers, noting that Israeli leaders aim to extend their control beyond Gaza—toward Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia—raising alarms across the Arab world.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian landscape continues to deteriorate:

• UN and WHO data show unprecedented malnutrition: in July alone, nearly 12 000 children under five suffered acute malnutrition, with 2 500 in severe condition. At least 99 Gazans have already died this year due to malnutrition, including 35 children—29 under five.

• Broader famine indicators are grim: one in five people in Gaza live under famine-like conditions, and 20% of pregnant women are severely malnourished, imperiling multiple generations.

• International bodies, including a bloc of 27 countries, are demanding full, unimpeded UN and aid access to Gaza.

Gaza’s healthcare system, already fragile, is collapsing. Over 90% of hospitals have been damaged or destroyed. Malnutrition treatment centers are overwhelmed, understaffed, and short on supplies. As experts warn, even if aid improves, recovering from severe acute malnutrition requires specialized care—not just food. Collapse in service and infrastructure only deepen the risk.

In parallel, the International Court of Justice’s vice president, Judge Julia Sebutinde, sparked backlash by invoking religious conviction in defense of her dissenting rulings—which opposed measures protecting Palestinians—from her church in Uganda. This has raised troubling questions about impartiality within international law circles.

Locally, a legal standoff has emerged with the Cape Union Mart case in South Africa, where pro-Palestinian activists and solidarity groups are challenging a lawsuit by the company. Activists argue it’s a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) designed to silence dissent. A recent court order clarified that protests can continue as long as they don’t harass customers—countering initial media claims of an injunction.

Listen to the Palestine Report on Sabaahul Muslim with Moulana Sulaimaan Ravat.