Gazan GHF workers left to die at hospital where Doctors Without Borders is.

Every time you have seen a food crisis play out on your screen, the first images of children who are dying, all are most likely to those who were more vulnerable for some reason. You have just never questioned it before.

I’m not sure why it’s so important for some of you to try and prove that Israel is “only” starving children with medical conditions to death.

I’m not sure what point is being made about the other children not looking like they are as thin as their sister.

There are multiple reasons to suggest that food is in short supply.

There was an editorial about this in Haaretz:

“The plot goes like this: The whole world published a photo of a child who looked like he was starving, in order to blame Israel. But, Israelis across the spectrum insisted, was a lie: the child has a pre-existing genetic condition that explains his appearance. Ergo: There is no starvation in Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself said so (though his biggest supporter, Donald Trump, did not agree).”

“One type of lie tries to deflect, accuses the enemy of fabrication, and ignores all other evidence. The fact is that a child can both have a genetic disease and be starving.”

”The second reason to expose the lies Israel is drowning in is this: anyone who believes them must internalize that they may as well be living on another planet.”

https://archive.ph/b7thm

It won’t make me feel better if the smallest sibling looks shocking within months. I’m not enjoying there being a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, I just want it to be reported factually. More aid is getting into Gaza now so I sincerely hope that what you predict won’t happen.

Though it has been raised many times, maybe you need reminding that Hamas could end this war too - by agreeing to disarm, release all the hostages and leave Gaza.

I agree the siblings could be malnourished. However they look nothing like their sister so it’s disingenuous to pretend it is merely lack of access to food that is causing her issues.

They don’t look wasted yet no. That doesn’t mean that they aren’t starving. They don’t look healthy. They are probably malnourished. Their images are not shocking in the same way. If it makes you feel any better - the smallest will look shocking too within months.

The UN also need to be facilitated in distributing aid. This could be anything from being allowed to have the equipment to remove explosives from their path - to more aid corridors to allow them to travel with more safety.

I’m not “against” Aid drops. They are just very ineffective. It costs a lot to deliver small quantities of aid. Sometimes during aid drops they have staff on the ground to coordinate the delivery of aid. The way these aid drops are done means that the strongest, fittest and presumably those with arms get the most aid.

They don’t look starving do they? We all know though why it’s her image that has been chosen rather than her sisters or brothers.

I don’t think the rest of Maryam’s family look “perfectly healthy”

80% of medical evacuations have been to Arab states.

The dramatic thing that should happen is that Gaza should be flooded with aid and the UN should be facilitated with delivering it. The looting will cease. Aid is often looted in famine situations.

The rest of your points have been addressed many times.

I believe @CyberStranger is suggesting that the malnutrition/starvation isn’t widespread. And that mobile networks should still be working after thousands of tonnes of bombs have been dropped on an area smaller than a major city. And that 36000 meals a minute is realistic from GHF.

I totally agree that the media should be way more mindful about the photos that they do post as it leads to these debates and distracts from the issue. I don’t mind it being flagged as an issue but I find it really disturbing that people can watch clips of poor people in Gaza and are checking whether everyone in shot appears ‘thin enough’ to be starving. As far as I know, there’s no confirmation that this girl even has a medical condition. It’s just been decided because no one else looks like
skin and bones yet. And when people use these photos to play into the narrative that Israel are doing no wrong and it’s all Hamas propaganda, it is very frustrating. I’m not saying you but I think that’s what @CyberStranger is suggesting.

Perhaps when independent journalists are allowed access, we’ll see many more images (unlikely as I’m sure the IDF would avoid any imagery that made people feel sorry for the Palestinians).

Until then, I’m happy to move on and say how sad I was to hear the US have frozen all medical-humanitarian visas from Gaza so orgs like HEAL Palestine can no longer help children get medical assistance in the US.

I also fear that this week will bring much more pain as suffering on the people of Gaza as they are forced out of Gaza City - moving people who have already lost everything and displacing even more people from their homes.

You are seeing children, many with vulnerabilities, with severe acute malnutrition. They are on the brink of death.

12,000 children in Gaza are estimated to be suffering from acute malnutrition. They won’t all look like this YET. But they will, if something dramatic doesn’t change soon. Because it’s not going to be possible to treat this many children due to the lack of medical aid and therapeutic food.

If you want to see what “regular” malnutrition looks like for someone look at renad in Gaza or Gym rat in Gaza on instagram. They aren’t wasted like these children, but the change in them is obvious.

@PinkBobby people do understand that Gazans are not getting enough aid and we do see that there is widespread hunger and malnutrition. That is not the thing being debated.

Why is it so hard though for some people on here to understand that we just don't like being manipulated and lied to about most of the babies used for propaganda purposes having underlying health conditions? It's a cheap shot, a low trick. It's cynical, it's deceitful. It's emotional manipulation and actually it is important to kick back against it and be truthful about why these exact babies and children are picked for photos to be reproduced in the media. Personally I doubt all the photos are of children with underlying health issues, but most are and we see that when we dig a little deeper.

It's a point that I think we should move on from. Tbh it isn't worth discussing as much as we do discuss it on MN but the reason it keeps coming up again and again is because of the lack of honesty around the subject. Better if we all just admit that yes, Hamas do use photos of sick children for propaganda purposes and yes, unfortunately our media do post some photos without providing the context of why they look so much worse than other babies/children in Gaza.

It would be better for us all to focus on what we agree is truth - that there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Funny I would think gullible is believing anything the IDF says, considering they are proven liars.

Yes apparently hamas always wear their identifiable outfits they never dress up as other militants, journalists or medics oh noooo. It's best that way otherwise gullible folk would lap up stories that it's the IDF and 'other groups' you see.

You didn't read the articles did you??

Thank you @SummerFeverVenice
The details of your post highlight the dangers of malnutrition compounding poor medical facilities and medication. The vaccination program for children is also a concern.

There are already concerns that direct deaths from the war are bing under-reported, but there also concerns about indirect deaths through malnutrition and disease that we don’t see in the figures for those who have been killed/ died.

? Keffiyehs while posting on X and writing for Al Jazeera don’t = working for Hamas.

You have picked on 2 doctors out of dozens of doctors who signed joint statements from 115 humanitarian organisations from around the globe btw. If you feel like dismissing 1 doctor who isn’t wearing a plaid scarf while talking on X, and 1 doctor that (shock, horror) was published by Al Jazeera…what about all the other doctors?

I believe the UN and other humanitarian organisations that have stated there is no evidence that Hamas as stolen anything more than a tiny amount of aid. Certainly not enough to make a difference. There is no evidence that allegation by Israel that the famine in Gaza is caused by the looting of aid rather than the verified facts that no where near enough aid has gone into Gaza for almost 2yrs straight.

Do you really think hungry civilians would be able to chase down and take a lorry with armed terrorists riding on top of it?
The many videos of armed men on aid trucks (which is normal as these trucks have security) do show them being swamped and overrun by hungry people OR the videos show IDF firing on the aid convoy or they show the Israel hired ISIS Shabab terrorists attacking and looting the convey (this was even admitted by Netanyahu as fact). There are far more videos of this than the ones alleged to show Hamas rather than the armed ISIS criminals Netanyahu hired to loot the aid.

That is why there were numerous massacres when aid trucks were going in for most of 2024. The aid seekers were being shot up by IDF or by Shabab. Maybe some by Hamas.

The current reports show the vast majority of looting has happened AFTER Israel took humanitarian aid away from the UN and started to use their GHF set up. Looting has gone from less than 3% to 86% in May…hmm?

@Gloriia or people like these

NHS nurse
https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/gaza-starvation-2-6788218-Aug2025/

Irish vascular surgeon

https://www.irishtimes.com/podcasts/in-the-news/irish-surgeon-on-working-in-gaza-wave-after-wave-of-dead-children/

Just a couple of the brave men and women .