“The least my child does not know what the taste of the fruit is”

The residents of the Gaza Strip described the BBC effects that lack of food has on their bodies after a forged report confirmed starvation on territory For the first time.

Reem Tawfiq Khader, 41 -year -old, mother of five from Gaza, said: “The starvation declaration has come too late, but it is still important.

“We haven’t ate any protein for five months. My least of my child is four years old – he doesn’t know what fruits and vegetables look or taste.”

The UN says Israel has greatly limited the amount of help entering the gas, which Israel denies.

Israel also denies that there is hunger in territory, in a direct contradiction with what More than 100 humanitarian groupsWitnesses to Earth and many UN bodies say.

On Friday, the not supported classification of the Integrated Food Security Phase (IPC) said that in the city of Gaza and the surrounding regions there were “fully created by man” hunger and surrounding areas.

He warned that more than half a million people from the Gaza Strip face “catastrophic” conditions characterized by “hunger, disaster and death”.

Raja Talbe, 47 -year -old, mother at six, said she lost 25 kg (55 pounds) weight. She escaped from her home in the Zeitoun area in Gaza a month ago and now lives in a makeshift tent near the beach.

She suffers from intolerance to gluten and said she could no longer find food she could eat.

“Before the war, a charity helped me get gluten -free products that I could never afford,” she said.

“Ever since the war started, I can’t find what I need on the market, and even when I do it, I can’t afford it. Is it not enough to face daily bombing, displacement and life in a tent that protects us from either the heat of summer or the cold of winter – and now hunger on top?”

The 29-year-old hide ridge said the weight of her five-year-old daughter Lamia had dropped from 19 kg (42 pounds) to 10.5 kg (23 pounds).

She said Lamia was healthy before the war began and had no previous illnesses.

“All this happened only for the sake of hunger,” she said.

“There’s just nothing to eat. There are no vegetables, no fruit.”

Lamia now suffers from swelling in her feet, thinning hair and nervous problems, she said.

“She can’t walk. I went to many clinics, doctors and hospitals. They all told me that my daughter was suffering from malnutrition. But none of them gave me anything, no treatment, no support.”

Mandy Blackman, a British nurse working for the charity UK in Gaza, said 70% of mothers who attend mother’s health, pre -chief and postpartum clinics have clinical malnutrition.

“Babies deliver smaller and more vulnerable as a result,” she said.

More than 62,000 people were killed in Gaza as Israel launched its military campaign, in response to the Hamas attack on South Israel on October 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were hostage.

Since the beginning of the war, at least 271 people, including 112 children, have died of “hunger and malnutrition”, according to Gaza Hamas Health Ministry.

Another woman, ASEL, who lives in Gaza, said: “Five months ago I weighed 56 kg (123 pounds). Today I weigh only 46 kg (101 pounds).”

She said she had not eaten a single piece of fruit or meat for months and spent almost all her savings on basic ingredients to survive.

ASEEL’s court-with who lives-has a one-month-old baby.

“She is desperately looking for a baby formula at a reasonable price,” Azeel said.

She said that when they could find it, it costs 180 shekels (£ 39) per can.

“I don’t have food stocks, even enough to last a week or two,” she added.

“Like thousands of people, we live every day.”

Additional reporting from Frey Scott-Terner