The first convoy of aid trucks carrying essential food, medicine, and drinking water has now entered Gaza. But for 12-year-old Huda Abu al Naja, these supplies have come far too late
Harrowing scenes from Gaza show starving Palestinians rushing to collect sacks of flour as the first steps of a ceasefire begin. But for some, tragically, these much-needed supplies have come far too late.
12-year-old Huda Abu al Naja spent the final months of her short life suffering from malnutrition, begging to be allowed to travel abroad for treatment. Tragically, Huda has now died; one of the hundreds of children in Gaza who have died from malnutrition-related deaths.
Young Huda had died of a “simple infection” on Friday, October 10. Months of being denied basic access to food had severely weakened her immune system, and the little girl, who’d lived with coeliac disease, was unable to fight off the infection as it took hold, according to The Times of Israel.
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Back in July, one month before a famine was declared in Gaza, Sky News spoke with Huda, who had by that point lost half her body weight since March, when the situation in the region saw yet another steep decline. Huda’s mother shared that there was “virtually nothing to eat” after Israel tightened restrictions on food getting into Gaza.
All her daughter needed was some fresh fruit and vegetables, fish, and meat. But this, horrifyingly, was no longer possible. Indicating to a picture on her tablet, which demonstrated just how much she’d changed in a short period of time, Huda told the media outlet: “The war changed me. Malnutrition has turned my hair yellow because I lack protein. You see here, this is how I was before the war.”
In a devastating plea, Huda begged: “Can you help me travel abroad for treatment? I want to be like you. I’m a child. I want to play and be like you.”
Israel initially increased restrictions on goods going into Gaza on October 7, 2023, following a devastating attack by Hamas terrorists. Then, in March 2025, Israel imposed a three-month total blockade on goods entering Gaza, amid an international outcry. The following month, BBC News reported that UN-supported bakeries had closed, while there was barely any fresh vegetables to be found at market stalls.
The blockade sparked an international outcry among humanitarian organisations, with ActionAid warning of a “new cycle of starvation and thirst”. Although Israel claimed at the time that there was enough food to last the approximately two million-strong population for a long while, this was described as “ridiculous” by the UN. UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric stated: “We are at the tail end of our supplies.”
In May, Israel permitted a trickle of medicine and food supplies to be allowed into Gaza, but this was regarded as desperately insufficient to feed the many starving mouths awaiting aid. Louise Wateridge, a spokesperson for the UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA, said at the time: “Not enough. Five trucks, nowhere near. Not enough.”
By the time Huda gave her interview, she and other children on the malnutrition ward were being given dextrose, a mixture of sugar and water which possesses no nutritional value and is no substitute for actual food.
That same month, medics estimated that 70,000 children were in a state of starvation, with as many as 28 believed to be dying every day.
In August, an Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, supported by the United Nations (UN), determined that at least one in five households faced an extreme shortage in food consumption, while approximately one in three children or more were acutely malnourished.
Following the recent ceasefire, the first convoy of aid trucks carrying essential food, medicine and drinking water has now entered Gaza through the Kerem Abu Salem border crossing. But for families like Huda’s, this hopeful moment remains a haunting reminder of how their loved ones could have been saved.
Do you have a story to share? Email me at julia.banim@reachplc.com
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