“Here’s how starvation destroys your body: in the first 6 to 24 hours, blood sugar drops. The body burns stored glycogen to stay alive. In 1 to 3 days, there is no more glycogen and fat is turned into ketones to fuel your brain. The body enters “survival mode” and in the next 3 to 5 days, the muscles start breaking down and the body sacrifices its own tissue – even the heart – just to survive. This is when children stop crying.“
Dr Mohammed Abu Mughaisib’s video of himself describing how hunger destroys life, dignity and humanity provides a dramatic testimony of the reality in the Gaza Strip, where food and medicine are blocked and the population is dying of starvation.
“I never thought I would experience it firsthand, like I’m doing now”, the Médecins Sans Frontières Deputy Medical Coordinator in Gaza continues, explaining that for the past month he has been surviving on one meal per day, and in the past week on “only one meal every two days. Not because I cannot afford it, but because there is nothing to buy, and the markets are completely empty.”
Other doctors, medics and ambulance drivers who are starting to starve are also trying to care for starving patients, he says, noting they are expected “to save lives while our own lives are slowly being consumed.”
This is not just about hunger
“This is not just about hunger, but about the slow destruction of life, dignity and humanity,” he says, appealing for a stop to the use of food, water and aid as “a weapon in this war.”
“It is not acceptable at all.”
Read more: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/world/news/2025-07/gaza-starvation-msf-doctor-hunger-israel-humanitarian-war.html
By Stefano Leszczinsky and Linda Bordoni | VaticanNews
