American doctor describes Gaza starvation horror: ‘Kids missing limbs don’t scream in pain, they cry, ‘I am hungry’…’

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denies famine in Gaza, an American doctor who volunteered there for two months, recounted harrowing scenes of starvation and suffering, saying children maimed by airstrikes no longer scream from pain but from hunger. Aqsa Durrani, who is a pediatric doctor and board member of Doctors Without Borders, also claimed that she was allowed to enter Gaza with only seven pounds (approximately 3.17 kg) of food. She spent two months in Gaza with that amount of food.

Speaking with Humans of New York, Aqsa Durrani said the Israeli military had rules about how much food can be taken inside the territory. Her testimony comes as Israel continues to deny humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory, asserting the war is only on Hamas militants.

The American doctor’s testimony on Gaza starvation said otherwise.

“When I entered Gaza the Israeli military had a rule: I was only allowed to bring in seven pounds of food. As I was weighing out protein bars, trying to get under the limit, I said to my husband: ‘How sinister is this?’ Why would there even be a limit on food? I’ve worked in many places with extreme hunger, but what’s so jarring in this context is how cruel it is, how deliberate.”

From the hospital, Aqsa Durrani described treating victims of Israeli airstrikes alongside fellow doctors who were themselves “hungry and exhausted.”

“I was in Gaza for two months; there’s no way to describe the horror of what’s happening. And I say this as a pediatric ICU doctor who sees children die as part of my work. Among our own staff we have doctors and nurses who are trying to treat patients while hungry, exhausted. They’re living in tents. Some of them have lost fifteen, twenty members of their families,” she said.

The American doctor said children with missing limbs and third-degree burns didn’t scream from pain, but from hunger, crying, “I’m hungry!”

“In the hospital there are kids maimed by airstrikes: missing arms, missing legs, third degree burns. Often there’s not enough pain medication. But the children are not screaming about the pain, they’re screaming: ‘I’m hungry! I’m hungry!”

“I remember when our bus pulled out of the buffer zone. Out the window on one side I could see Rafah, which was nothing but rubble. On the other side was lush, green Israel.” Also Read | Gaza children face battle for survival: 10 disturbing photos of horrific hunger crisis and misery

“When we exited the gate, the first thing I saw was a group of Israeli soldiers, sitting at a table, eating lunch. I’ve never felt so nauseous seeing a table full of food,” Aqsa Durrani said.

In a podcast, the American doctor recalled the anguish of telling crying, desperate mothers that she had no food for their starving children — even though supplies were just miles away. “But it’s not because we don’t have it. It’s because it’s being deliberately blocked from us,” she said.