How the Israeli Right Explains the Aid Disaster It Created : Shared by John Gilmartin

The War in Gaza: Hunger, Politics, and Contested Narratives

By Isaac Chotiner / The New Yorker 30 July

“A seven-month-old baby lies in our paediatric intensive care unit, so tiny and malnourished that I initially mistook her for a newborn. The phrase ‘skin and bones’ doesn’t do justice to the way her body has been ravaged. She is literally wasting away before our eyes and, despite our best efforts, we are powerless to save her.”

Nick Maynard (volunteer surgeon in southern Gaza) — *The Free Press*

Click here for the article in the New Yorker
Click here for the full text - courtesy John Gilmartin


Summary

Volunteer surgeon Nick Maynard, speaking from a hospital in southern Gaza, recounts treating children suffering from severe malnutrition—including a seven‑month‑old baby so emaciated he initially mistook her for a newborn. He reports that malnutrition claimed at least 63 lives in July alone, 25 of them children, according to WHO data. Israel has announced a temporary pause allowing increased aid access, though its duration remains uncertain. Close allies like France and the UK have condemned the unfolding crisis as a “catastrophe,” with both promising recognition of a Palestinian state unless a ceasefire is reached. Even President Trump acknowledged children's hunger, while Israeli leadership maintains there is no starvation. The article highlights how two Israeli NGOs have begun describing Israel’s conduct as “genocide.” 

The article features an interview with right‑wing Israeli journalist Amit Segal, who, despite rejecting most claims of Gaza starvation as propaganda, acknowledges a developing food crisis. Segal disputes reports of Hamas looting aid, citing U.S.A.I.D. findings to the contrary, and asserts that media narratives are often influenced by Hamas messaging.

Quotes

“I’ve just finished operating on another severely malnourished young teenager… She is literally wasting away before our eyes and, despite our best efforts, we are powerless to save her.” — Nick Maynard

“It’s hard to convince Israelis of that because literally everything said to them for 22 months on this topic has been a fiction.” — Amit Segal

“But I do think there is a situation that can actually deteriorate to something like this.” — Amit Segal

::contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}