DaysofPal- A 20-year-old Palestinian woman evacuated from the Gaza Strip for medical treatment has died in Italy, in a case that underscores the severity of Gaza’s starvation crisis after months of Israeli war and blockade.
Identified as Marah Abu Zuhri, she was flown overnight Wednesday to Pisa University Hospital aboard an Italian government humanitarian flight.
She arrived with her mother in what doctors described as a “highly complex clinical state,” suffering from extreme wasting, a condition of critical muscle and weight loss caused by prolonged malnutrition.
Hospital officials confirmed that despite urgent examinations and immediate supportive treatment, Marah suffered a sudden respiratory crisis followed by cardiac arrest on Friday, which proved fatal.
Italian officials, including Tuscany regional president Eugenio Giani, expressed condolences to Marah’s family, calling her death a “tragedy that reflects the unspeakable suffering of Gaza’s people.”
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the evacuation represented Italy’s largest medical airlift from Gaza since January 2024, noting that over 180 children and young people have been transferred to Italy for treatment since the war began.
Marah’s death highlights the growing famine in Gaza, where humanitarian agencies say the population is enduring catastrophic levels of hunger engineered by the Israeli occupation.
The United Nations reported that in July nearly 12,000 children under five were acutely malnourished, including 2,500 in life-threatening condition.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has classified Gaza as experiencing the “worst-case famine scenario,” warning that a continued blockade and ongoing military operations risk pushing the enclave into complete collapse.
Aid groups have called for an immediate ceasefire to allow the safe flow of food, water, and medicine.
At least 227 people have died from hunger-related causes since October 2023, including 103 children, whereas just in the past week, five additional deaths linked to starvation were reported.
Israeli Occupation “Engineers’ Starvation”
Human rights groups said that the Israeli occupation is implementing a policy of “engineered starvation” in Gaza.
According to these groups, the Israeli occupation restricts aid deliveries to very few trucks, which are directed to remote distribution points far from urban centers.
This forces tens of thousands of desperate people to converge on limited supplies, often resulting in deadly chaos.
Witnesses and aid workers report that Israeli forces have fired on civilians attempting to reach food trucks, killing and wounding hundreds.
As a result, access to aid is effectively limited to those able to fight through the crowds. Vulnerable groups, including widows, orphans, the elderly, the wounded, and medical staff – are largely excluded, leaving them to die of hunger in silence.
Marah Abu Zuhri’s story illustrates this grim reality: a young woman weakened by months of deprivation in Gaza, unable to recover even after reaching a European hospital.
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