Doctor Reports Famine and Health System Collapse in Gaza Amid Ongoing Assault

Famine has reached horrifying levels in the Gaza Strip, where emergency rooms are overflowing with patients, according to U.S. physician Dr. Nour Sharaf.

“The current situation in the coastal enclave is unlike anything I have ever seen,” stated Sharaf, who was quoted by the Safa News Agency.

Sharaf, currently working at Al-Shifa Medical Complex, warned that many of the injured or ill are being treated on the floor due to a lack of space.

Doctors are working extended shifts far beyond normal hours without access to food, she added.

“We are seeing people who have not eaten for days and are literally starving to death,” she said, referring to the food shortage caused by Israel’s blockade imposed since early March.

According to the territory’s Ministry of Health, at least 111 Palestinians have died from famine and malnutrition resulting from the siege, including many children.

Gaza’s Civil Defense has also denounced the humanitarian crisis this week, urging the international community to stop the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

“There is nothing in Gaza but pain, tears, and hunger,” said Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal.

“We have repeatedly called on the world to intervene and stop the famine that is striking us,” Basal added, echoing growing criticism from Palestinian sectors regarding the international community’s failure to end the conflict.

The spokesperson stressed that children are “literally dying of hunger” in the coastal enclave.

Zakari Abu Qamar, Director General of Pharmacy at Gaza’s Ministry of Health, issued a warning last week about an unprecedented deterioration in the region’s medical crisis.

He noted that the continued closure of border crossings and the ban on the entry of medications and medical supplies has persisted for over five months, resulting in the depletion of essential resources.

Abu Qamar reported that 47 percent of medicines on the essential needs list have been exhausted due to the Israeli blockade, along with 65 percent of the supplies required to operate hospitals and primary care centers.