As the U.S. public begins to wake up to the reality of mass starvation in Gaza, recent mainstream media reports have issued a bold claim: Some cases of starvation can be explained not by the Israeli government’s near-total blockade on food, but by chronic illnesses.

The New York Post attempted to cast doubt on reports of starvation by suggesting that a small child’s skeletal frame was caused not by famine, but by cerebral palsy and other genetic disorders — as if a medical diagnosis could somehow cancel out the consequences of hunger. The New York Times issued a correction to its own story concerning the same child, noting that while he did suffer severe malnutrition, he “also had pre-existing health problems.”

But for those living with chronic illness or disability in Gaza, hunger is not separate from their condition — it is made worse by it. Medications have disappeared. Treatments have stopped. And basic survival has become a daily battle. Under total blockade, diabetes or a thyroid condition can become a death sentence.

The Intercept spoke to nine Palestinians with chronic illnesses or disabilities across Gaza, including two children, many of whom agreed to be interviewed on the condition that only their first name be published. Their experiences reveal that illness and starvation are deeply interconnected. Rather than explaining the other away, they intensify each other.

Every day, Deya’a, 16, hopes to find a vial of insulin. But pharmacies are empty, aid rarely arrives, and electricity cuts stretch for hours, sometimes days, threatening to spoil what little insulin he manages to secure.

“I speak from a place where tomorrow is uncertain,” he told The Intercept.

Living with diabetes was difficult in Gaza before the war, but Israel’s attacks have made his condition life-threatening on a daily basis.

“I often inject less than the required dose, and sometimes I skip it entirely, knowing it’s slowly destroying me,” he said.

When his sugar drops, there is nothing to eat. No sugar cubes, no dates, not even bread. Hunger is indiscriminate, devouring both the sick and the healthy alike.

When his sugar spikes, Deya’a struggles to bring it down.

Without blood sugar test strips, he cannot tell whether his blood sugar levels are too high or too low. He only recognizes danger through sudden symptoms: dizziness, profuse sweating, blurred vision, or collapse.

Beyond the physical toll, Deya’a said, the psychological strain is crushing. Fear,........

© The Intercept