A Child Lost To Hunger: Four-Year-Old Razan Abu Zaher Dies Amid Gaza's Worsening Famine

 

Four-year-old Razan Abu Zaher passed away on Sunday in a central Gaza hospital, her frail body a tragic symbol of a region gripped by famine. According to medical staff, she died from complications related to severe hunger and malnutrition.

Her death comes as part of a growing humanitarian catastrophe. At least 76 children and 10 adults in Gaza have died from starvation-related causes since October 2023, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Most of those deaths have occurred since March, when a near-total blockade sharply curtailed the flow of food and aid into the territory.

Razan was one of four children who died over the weekend alone — the youngest just three months old. Within a 24-hour span, 18 deaths were attributed to hunger.

A month before her death, Razan was already showing signs of severe malnutrition. Her mother, Tahrir Abu Daher, said they had no money for food and that milk was nearly impossible to find. “Her health was very good before the war,” she said in June. “But after the war, her condition began to deteriorate due to malnutrition. There is nothing to strengthen her.”

Despite 39 days of hospitalization, Razan could not recover.

A Starving Population

The flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza has plummeted since March, when Israeli authorities halted convoys over concerns that Hamas was seizing supplies. Although that ban was partially lifted at the end of May, aid groups say the current flow is nowhere near enough to meet the needs of the population.

Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) says it is working to facilitate aid entry and has allowed roughly 67,000 food trucks into Gaza since the start of the war. “Israel will continue to facilitate the entry of food,” the agency said, “while taking all possible measures to prevent the terrorist organization Hamas from seizing the aid.”

But humanitarian organizations, including the UN, report that much of the aid is stuck at the borders or blocked from distribution within Gaza by Israeli restrictions. The result is worsening malnutrition and a surge in hospitalizations for starvation-related conditions.

“Gaza is witnessing the worst phase of famine,” said Dr. Khalil Al-Daqran, spokesperson for Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where Razan died. “Infants are being robbed of their childhood twice — once by bombing, and again by hunger.”

The Palestinian health ministry described an overwhelming influx of patients suffering from extreme exhaustion and organ failure due to hunger. “Hundreds… are now at risk of imminent death,” the ministry warned.

Doctors Without Food, Patients Without Hope

Medical personnel on the ground describe an impossible situation. “People are in dire need of food before medicine,” said Dr. Suhaib Al-Hams, director of the Kuwait field hospital in Khan Younis. He reported that even doctors are going without food, as humanitarian kitchens like World Central Kitchen have run out of ingredients.

“We served 80,000 meals yesterday,” said the group in a statement, “emptying the last of our replenished stocks while aid trucks remain stuck at the border.”

Meanwhile, the risks of trying to access food have proven deadly. On Sunday alone, more than 70 people were reportedly killed in northern Gaza while attempting to retrieve aid. The Israel Defense Forces claimed their troops fired warning shots to remove what they described as “an immediate threat.” An internal review, they said, suggests the number of casualties reported “does not align” with their information.

Yet nearly 800 people have reportedly been killed while seeking food between late May and early July, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Of those, over 600 were killed near the sites of the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, with the rest dying along convoy routes.

A Generation Wasting Away

Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital, said a growing number of patients are arriving in states of collapse due to extreme malnutrition.

A field report from the Palestinian Center for Human Rights paints a bleak picture: “Our faces have changed and our bodies have wasted away. We no longer recognize each other from extreme emaciation.”

According to the UN, starvation among children reached a peak in June, with over 5,800 girls and boys diagnosed as acutely malnourished. “Those seeking food risk being shot. People are dying trying to feed their families,” said Tom Fletcher, the UN’s Emergency Relief Coordinator.

On Saturday, plastic surgeon Sarmad Tamimy, volunteering with Medical Aid for Palestinians, captured the grim reality: “Honestly, I feel the lucky ones get killed immediately because of the horrors they face — inadequate nutrition, lack of medical supplies, infections, even maggots.”

Razan Abu Zaher’s death is not just a personal tragedy — it is a stark reminder of a humanitarian disaster unfolding in real time, with no end in sight.