GazaHerald – After crying to a watching but silent world, “I’m hungry… I’m hungry,” five-year-old Palestinian child Abdullah Abu Zarqa has died from hunger and illness caused by Israel’s blockade on the Gaza Strip.
Abdullah passed away on Monday evening, August 18, 2025, in a hospital in Adana, Turkey, after his health deteriorated due to famine and a lack of medicine in the besieged enclave.
Despite being transferred out of Gaza in a last attempt to save him, his frail body could not recover from months of malnutrition. His haunting plea for food had already resonated across the globe, becoming a symbol of human suffering and the cruelty of a starvation siege.
His sister, Habeeba, remains in the hospital battling severe illness, including blood poisoning, an enlarged liver, and acute malnutrition. Doctors warn that without urgent medical intervention, she may soon meet the same fate as her brother.
Dr. Munir al-Barsh, Director General of the Gaza Ministry of Health, mourned the child’s death, declaring, “The child Abdullah Abu Zarqa, who cried out, ‘I’m hungry,’ has passed away. But his cry will remain an eternal witness to the crime of the blockade and starvation and to a world that has remained silent in the face of childhood pain.”
Hunger Is Devastating Gaza’s Children
Abdullah’s gaunt face and visible bones, captured in a video where he repeated, “I’m hungry… “I’m hungry,” reflected the tragedy of thousands of children in Gaza who are wasting away from malnutrition under Israel’s policy of starvation. His death is not an isolated incident but part of a growing toll of children succumbing to hunger.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 258 Palestinians have died of starvation and malnutrition since October 2023, including 110 children. More than 40,000 infants are suffering from severe malnutrition, and at least 100,000 children and chronically ill patients are enduring acute nutritional deficiencies.
Hospitals across Gaza report alarming increases in hunger-related illnesses. At Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, 35 cases of severe child malnutrition were recorded in a single day and 70 in one week.
Doctors warn that the death rate among children is rising rapidly due to the lack of medicines, infant formula, and even basic food.
The blockade has also triggered widespread water contamination and disease. Nearly 19,000 cases of acute diarrhea have been documented, almost half in children, while anemia levels have reached unprecedented highs, with only two in ten people able to donate blood.
The Government Media Office in Gaza condemned Israel’s “systematic starvation policy” targeting more than 2.4 million Palestinians, including over 1.2 million children, warning that the world is witnessing “scenes of children bidding farewell, documented in sound and image, yet met with silence.”
The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) also issued a warning that hunger is spreading rapidly across Gaza, with one million women and girls at risk of starvation. Many are resorting to dangerous survival strategies, such as venturing outside in search of food and water, exposing them to further risks amid relentless bombardment.
As Gaza slips deeper into famine, Abdullah’s final cry, “I’m hungry,” stands as both an indictment of Israel’s ongoing siege and a moral test for the international community. His small body, broken by hunger, embodies the collective suffering of Gaza’s children, starved in full view of the world.
