Inside Gaza’s Nasser Hospital – where there’s virtually no food for malnourished children
In Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, they have virtually nothing left to eat.
Warning: This article contains images that some readers may find distressing.
Huda has lost half her body weight since March, when Israel shut the crossings into Gaza, and imposed a blockade.
The 12-year-old girl knows she doesn’t look well.
“Before, I used to look like this,” Huda says, pointing to a picture on her tablet.
“The war changed me. Malnutrition has turned my hair yellow because I lack protein. You see here, this is how I was before the war.”
Her mother says her needs are simple: fresh fruit and vegetables, fish, maybe a little meat – but she won’t find it here.
Huda can only wish for a brighter future now.
“Can you help me travel abroad for treatment? I want to be like you. I’m a child. I want to play and be like you,” she says.
Huda wishes for a brighter future
Amir’s story
Three-year-old Amir was sitting in a tent together with his mother, father and his grandparents when it was hit by projectiles.
Medical staff carried out surgery on his intestines and were able to stop the bleeding – but they can’t feed him properly.
Instead, he’s given dextrose, a mixture of sugar and water which has no nutritional value.
Amir’s mother and siblings were killed in an attack that also left his father ‘in a terrible state’
Medical staff performed surgery on three-year-old Amir – but can’t feed him properly
Amir’s mother and his siblings were all killed in the attack and his father is no longer able to speak.
“His father is in a terrible state and won’t accept the reality. What did these children do? Tell me, what was their crime?” Amir’s aunt says.
The desperate scenes of hungry children in Gaza have not been caused by scarcity.
There’s plenty of food waiting at the crossings or held in warehouses within the territory. Israel claims the United Nations is failing to distribute it.
Amir’s relative holds pictures of the toddler and his family before the war
Both Israel and the US have taken charge of the food distribution, with the UN’s hundreds of aid centres shut.
Instead, the UN tries to organise convoys but says it can’t obtain the necessary permits – and faces draconian restrictions on aid.
Sometimes food is made available at communal kitchens called ‘tikiya’.
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Malnourished girl: ‘The war changed me’
‘I want life to be how it was’
Everyone is desperate for whatever they can get – and many leave with nothing.
“It’s been two months since we’ve eaten bread,” one young girl says. “There’s no food, there’s no nutrition. I want life to go back to how it was, I want meat and flour to come in. I want the end of the tikiya.”
Read more:
Gazan doctor held in ‘inhumane’ conditions
Starvation ‘knocking on every door’ in Gaza
Dr Adil Husain, an American doctor who spent two weeks at Nasser Hospital, treated a three-year-old called Hasan while he was there.
Weighing just 6kg, Hasan should be 15kg at his age.
“He needs special feeds, and these feeds are literally miles away. They’re literally right there at the border, but it’s being blockaded by the forces, they’re not letting them in, so it’s intentional and deliberate starvation,” Dr Husain tells me.
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Hasan died two days after Dr Husain examined him.
“It’s just so distressing that this is something man-made, this is a man-made starvation, this is a man-made crisis,” he says.
Israel says it has not identified starvation, but this feels like a situation that is entirely preventable.
Ukraine and its allies have agreed to work on a ceasefire plan in the next 10 days, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.
The Ukrainian president made the remarks after a proposal from US President Donald Trump to stop the war at its current frontlines.
“Some quick points – like a plan for a ceasefire. We decided we will work on it in the next week or 10 days,” Mr Zelenskyy told Axios.
He said Ukraine – partly in an attempt to pressure Russia into talks – was asking the US administration not only for Tomahawk missiles but for “similar things” that do not require lengthy training before Ukrainian military personnel can use them.
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Moment Russian soldiers surrender in Ukraine war
On the ground, Ukraine has moved to strengthen its positions in the strategic eastern city of Pokrovsk, as groups of Russian troops infiltrated the city, Kyiv’s military said.
Ukrainian officials said Russian troops have renewed their attempts to capture the key transport hub in the Donetsk region.
“The occupiers, who have entered the city, are not trying to take hold, but intend to advance further north,” the 7th Rapid Response Unit of Ukraine’s airborne troops said in a Facebook post.
“In doing so, the enemy wants to disperse our defence forces and block land logistics corridors.”
Mr Zelenskyy said Russia has concentrated its main strike force against Pokrovsk.
“There is fierce fighting in the city and on the approaches to the city… Logistics are difficult. But we must continue to destroy the occupiers,” he said.
Citing Ukrainian intelligence in his interview with Axios, Mr Zelenskyy said Russian President Vladimir Putin had privately claimed Moscow would capture the entire Donbas – comprising the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk – by 15 October.
Read more from Sky News:
Sanctions alone won’t force Putin to end Ukraine war
Trump ‘100% open’ to meeting Kim Jong Un
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Russia launches huge strike on Ukraine
Russia tests ‘Skyfall’ nuclear missile’
It comes after Russia tested a new nuclear-powered and nuclear-capable cruise missile, which Mr Putin said could dodge existing defences.
Development of the Burevestnik missile, codenamed Skyfall by NATO, was first revealed by Mr Putin in 2018, when he claimed it would have an unlimited range, allowing it to circle the globe undetected by missile defence systems.
In 2019, five nuclear engineers and two service members were killed in an explosion when Russian experts reportedly tried to recover a Burevestnik prototype that had crashed into the White Sea during tests.
‘Get the war ended,’ Trump tells Putin
Mr Trump, speaking during an official trip from Kuala Lumpur to Tokyo, said Mr Putin’s talk about missiles was not “appropriate”.
“You’ve got to get the war ended. A war that should have taken one week is now in its soon fourth year,” he said. “That’s what you ought to do, instead of testing missiles.”
A Kremlin spokesperson claimed the missile reflects Moscow’s determination to look out for its security interests.
“Russia is consistently working to ensure its own security,” Dmitry Peskov said when asked if the missile announcement was a response to tough new US sanctions imposed on Russia and a signal to the West.
“Ensuring security is a vital issue for Russia, especially against the backdrop of the militaristic sentiment that we are currently hearing, primarily from the Europeans,” he added.
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