The headline reads “Gazans ‘wasting away’ as mass starvation spreads, humanitarian groups warn.” (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce9xkx7vnmxo). It is a challenge to read this and not come away feeling what the hell is the matter with us.
This is starvation by choice. Aid has been sent to the Gazans but is being blocked from the region. Here is a quote from the article:
“Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Save the Children and Oxfam are among the signatories of a joint statement that says their colleagues and the people they serve are “wasting away”.
Israel, which controls the entry of all supplies into the territory, rejected the organisations’ statement and accused them of ‘serving the propaganda of Hamas’.”
I encourage the person(s) who made this statement to go to Gaza because, if the pictures are true*, this is not propaganda. The article notes the number of deaths from malnutrition since Sunday at 43. 43 preventable deaths.
(*There are several articles to choose from on this subject. I chose this one to highlight because of the reputation of the BBC as well as the accessibility of the article. Feel free to do your own research.)
Those 43 are in addition to the more than 1,000 Palestinians “killed by Israeli forces since May” who were trying to get food from distribution sites. (https://www.npr.org/2025/07/23/nx-s1-5477365/israel-gaza-aid-casualties) In spite of the numbers of people killed, Palestinians take the risk to get food. It is either that or starve. Not much of a choice, is it?
The Israeli/Palestinian conflict is extremely complicated, one I will admit to not being thoroughly versed in. (If you are interested in the history, here is a synopsis: https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-44124396.)
Here in the US, our government has taken the side of the Israeli’s. We are expelling legal non-citizen residents for participating in pro-Palestinian protests. Let’s forget for just the tiniest of moments that one of the basic tenets of our country is freedom of speech, I ask why are we so threatened by opposition to the treatment of Palestinians?
In this post, I am not trying to make an argument for who is right and who is wrong. As I said, I am not versed enough in the situation to do so. Clearly, though, I have opinions on this. I know many US citizens (born and raised) who are Palestinian. I don’t know any Israeli’s. Still, I would need to know a whole lot more about the history of the conflict to put forth an educated opinion, one that I could back up with facts, and feel confident in that assessment.
While there is not an easy or clear resolution to the conflict or answer to who is right or wrong, there is one thing that should be abundantly clear – starving children to death is not just wrong but abominable.
Have we lost all sense of humanity that we can sit by, watch children waste away and do nothing? Can we not feel the despair of a mother who witnesses her child’s bones protrude to the point where the little body can’t exist anymore and there is nothing she can do to stop it? Have we really become this cold-hearted? I fear the answer to that question.
“And his mama cries.”