GAZA CITY, Palestine / ISTANBUL

In a hospital bed at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, Osama Al-Raqab, 4, lies emaciated -- his skeletal frame a stark symbol of the health and living crisis triggered by Israel’s blockade and genocide.

Once a healthy child, Osama’s condition rapidly deteriorated because of months of food shortages, medicine scarcity and restricted access to aid. His current weight is just 9 kilograms (20 pounds), far below the healthy average of 16 kilograms for his age.

A video by the Health Ministry shows Dr. Ahmad Al-Farra, a physician at the Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, describing the child’s condition as one of the worst cases of malnutrition doctors have encountered during the war.

“Osama suffers from severe wasting, loss of fat tissue, acute anemia, vitamin deficiency and extreme fatigue,” Al-Farra said in the video.

“This catastrophic decline stems from the blockade and lack of food and treatment. He needs a high-protein diet -- if he had access to it, his condition wouldn’t have reached this point.”

Osama’s rib cage and abdomen protrude sharply in the footage, while his wide eyes stare blankly in pain and exhaustion.

His mother, standing beside him, held a photo from before the war showing Osama smiling and energetic. She blamed the worsening blockade and lack of essential food supplies for his condition.

“There is no milk, no eggs, no meat -- everything that gives us strength is gone,” she said. “My child is slowly dying.”

She appealed to international organizations to intervene and help her son travel abroad for urgent medical care.

Israel has closed Gaza’s border crossings to food, medical supplies, and humanitarian aid since March 2, triggering a deepening humanitarian disaster, according to reports from government bodies, human rights groups and international agencies.

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) recently warned that Gaza is on the brink of “extreme hunger” due to the continued blockade.

The escalation in famine conditions comes while Palestinians in Gaza are still reeling from an earlier wave of hunger. For more than a year and a half, Israel has restricted aid deliveries to the enclave, depriving hundreds of thousands of vulnerable families of food rations.

The Israeli army resumed its assault on Gaza on March 18, shattering a Jan. 19 ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement.

Israel has killed more than 51,300 Palestinians in the enclave since October 2023, most of them women and children.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.​​​​​​​