Twelve-year-old Rahaf Ayad is so malnourished she can barely speak. Her hair is falling out. Her ribs protrude. She can hardly move her limbs. She blinks slowly, her eyelids heavy.
Originally from Al-Shuja’iya in eastern Gaza City, Rahaf now lives with her seven family members in a single room in a relative’s house in the city’s Al-Rimal neighborhood.
Shurooq, Rahaf’s mother, explained that her daughter’s health began deteriorating rapidly due to the lack of food. “If anyone touches her, or she tries to move her arms or legs, she just cries out in pain,” she told +972. “She says it feels like her body is burning from the inside. She asks for chicken, meat, or eggs — but there’s nothing in the markets.” ….more
