Media Home
UN Web TV
UN PhotoUNFPA / GAZA MOTHERS CHILDREN STARVING
STORY: UNFPA / GAZA MOTHERS CHILDREN STARVING
TRT: 4:47
SOURCE: UNFPA
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNFPA ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 26 JULY 2025, GAZA
1. Wide shot, a street in Gaza City
2. Wide shot, a vendor sells a small selection of cooking oil and dry goods at a market in Gaza City
3. Med shot, a vendor sells a small selection of canned food and dry goods at a market in Gaza City
4. Wide shot, hundreds of families live in a displacement camp where there is no electricity, running water, sanitation services and very limited food available
5. Wide shot, hundreds of families live in a displacement camp where there is no electricity, running water, sanitation services and very limited food available
6. Wide shot, a little girl plays hopscotch at a large displacement camp
7. Med shot, a little girl plays hopscotch at a large displacement camp
8. Wide shot, a mother feeds her children lentils in front of their tent at a displacement camp. Many families in this camp are surviving on limited quantities of lentils and water alone
9. Close up, a small bowl of lentils feeds a family at a displacement camp
10. Close up, a young boy takes a bite of lentils offered by his mother
11. Wide shot, a Palestinian family sits with their children in front of their tent in a displacement camp
12. Med shot, a young girl holds her infant sister in a displacement camp
13. Med shot, Inas, a mother of three, with her children outside the tent where they are living in a displacement camp in Gaza City
14. Med shot, Inas holds the hand of her two-month-old infant
15. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Inas, Displaced mother of three:
“I’m now struggling to provide food for myself and my children. During the day, because of the lack of food, I often feel dizzy. And when we do get a little food, I give up my share for the kids so they can be full. I feel exhausted all day.”
16. Wide shot, Inas, a mother of three, with her children outside the tent where they are living in a displacement camp in Gaza City
17. Med shot, a father holds his two-month-old son in a displacement camp in Gaza City
18. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Inas, Displaced mother of three:
“The situation is terrible, and I don't know how we’ll manage if this goes on much longer.”
19. Med shot, Inas washes dishes using homemade soap and seawater. There is no running water in the camp and clean water is not consistently available.
20. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Inas, Displaced mother of three:
“We hope the entire world stands with us. That a single voice can reach the free people of the world, to help us—at the very least—with food. Just flour—at the very least—for our children. Every day we see people going to the aid distribution points, walking straight to death, just to bring bread back for their children. We see how blood mixes with flour. A bite of bread soaked in blood.”
21. Wide shot, Inas and her husband and two-month-old infant in the makeshift kitchen outside their tent
22. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Inas, Displaced mother of three:
“Sadly, things are only getting worse. Even the simplest thing—food—that every human should have… We know we’re in a war. But what is the fault of the children?”
23. Wide shot, Inas’ daughter eats lentils and water outside their tent in a displacement camp in Gaza City. Recently the family has only been eating two meals per day consisting of only lentils and water.
24. Close up, Inas’ daughter eats lentils and water outside their tent
25. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Inas, Displaced mother of three:
“There’s no safe life. No clean water. No safe environment. The right to education is gone. The right to play is gone. So what about the right to food, the right to live? These are the most basic rights. Where are we? Where is the world watching what’s happening to us and to our children? All families in the world have children. Would they accept waking their children up hungry?
26. Wide shot, Inas washes her hands outside the tent where she lives with her family. There is no running water in the camp and clean water is not consistently available.
27. Med shot, Inas washes her son's face outside the tent where they live.
28. Wide shot, Inas comforts her 2-month-old son outside the tent where they live.
More than 20 months of war has reduced Gaza to ruins. Entire neighbourhoods have become rubble-strewn wasteland where rubbish is piled high. Critical water and sanitation networks are either destroyed or paralyzed, creating catastrophic hygiene and health conditions. The most vulnerable, including pregnant women and newborns, are bearing the brunt, with acute watery diarrhoea soaring and daily increases in meningitis and hepatitis cases.
Since the fragile ceasefire collapsed in March 2025, over 762,000 people have been displaced again, now crammed into just 12 percent of the Gaza Strip. Families shelter in tents or makeshift structures, devoid of the basic necessities. Over 96 percent of households lack clean water, forcing impossible choices between drinking, cooking, and washing.
Inas, a mother of three living in a tent, speaks of aging a hundred years during the war, each day a struggle with no time for herself. As famine tightens its grip, Inas, like countless parents, battles to feed her children. She prioritizes their meager portions, often feeling faint herself. Her two-month-old youngest struggles to breastfeed due to Inas's insufficient milk. Around 40 percent of pregnant and breastfeeding women are suffering from severe malnutrition. Inas relies on dwindling baby formula, agonizing daily over finding clean water to sterilize bottles, acutely aware of the daily reports of malnutrition-related deaths.
Beyond hunger, the search for food has become a deadly gamble, with over 1,500 people killed since May under dangerous and chaotic conditions. Market shelves are bare, and staple prices for flour and sugar have soared beyond reach. While a trickle of aid has arrived in the past two weeks, much of it is still being offloaded by desperate people before reaching its destination. Inas feels forgotten by the world and helpless.
The only way to end the immeasurable suffering in Gaza and to prevent further preventable loss of life is a full and permanent ceasefire, coupled with unimpeded aid and commercial cargo to address the catastrophic conditions, including widespread starvation and deaths from malnutrition.
Download
There is no media available to download.
