Residents of the Gaza Strip have described the effects of severe hunger on their bodies, after a UN-backed report confirmed famine in the territory for the first time.
Reem Tawfiq Khader, 41, a mother of five from Gaza City, told the BBC: "The famine declaration came very late, but it's still important. We haven't eaten any protein for five months. My youngest child is four. He doesn't know what fruit and vegetables look like or taste like."
The UN says Israel has significantly restricted the amount of aid entering Gaza, which Israel denies.
Another woman, Rajaa Talbeh, 47, a mother of six, said she had lost 25kg. She fled her home in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City a month ago and now lives in a makeshift tent near the beach.
She suffers from gluten intolerance and said she could no longer find food to eat.
"Before the war, a charity helped me get gluten-free products, which I could never afford on my own. Since the war started, I can't find what I need in the market, and even when I do find it, I can't afford it. Isn't it enough to endure daily bombings, displacement, and living in a tent that protects us neither from the summer heat nor the winter cold, and now from hunger?"
Rida Hijeh, 29, said her five-year-old daughter, Lamia, had lost weight from 19kg to 10.5kg.
She said that Lamia was healthy before the war began and had no previous illnesses.
"All this happened just because of hunger. There is simply nothing for the child to eat. There are no vegetables, no fruits. Now, Lamia suffers from swelling in her legs, hair loss and nerve problems. She cannot walk. I went to many clinics, doctors and hospitals. Everyone told me that my daughter suffers from malnutrition. But none of them gave me anything, neither treatment nor support," she said.
Israel also denies that there is famine in the territory, in direct contradiction to what more than 100 humanitarian groups, witnesses on the ground, and numerous UN bodies say.
On Friday, the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said there was a "wholly man-made" famine in Gaza City and its surrounding areas.
He warned that more than half a million people across the Gaza Strip were facing "catastrophic" conditions characterized by "hunger, poverty and death."
More than 62,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its military campaign in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
Since the start of the war, at least 271 people, including 112 children, have died from "hunger and malnutrition," according to Gaza's Ministry of Health, which is run by Hamas.
