A 20-year-old Palestinian woman suffering from severe malnutrition who was evacuated from Gaza to Italy has died, a hospital in Pisa has said.
Identified by Italian media as Marah Abu Zuhri, the woman was characterized by doctors as being in ‘a profound state of organic wasting’ upon her arrival in the city on Wednesday night.
This tragedy coincides with rising calls for action against the ‘famine unfolding in front of our eyes’ amidst a growing controversy over responsibility for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Experts backed by the UN have alerted to widespread famine in the area, claiming that many Palestinians have been shot while attempting to access aid near distribution centers.
But Israel insists that the besieged strip is not facing starvation and says Hamas is responsible for the looting of aid.
On Tuesday, the UK, EU, Australia, Canada, and Japan released a statement declaring that ‘famine is unfolding in front of our eyes’ and called for efforts to ‘reverse starvation’.
They demanded ‘immediate, permanent and concrete steps’ to facilitate the entry of aid to Gaza.
Zuhri was admitted to Pisa University Hospital late Wednesday and died on Friday.
A 20-year-old Palestinian woman, in ‘a state of severe physical deterioration,’ passed away after being transferred to Italy for treatment. Pictured: An Italian Air Force aircraft lands at Pisa Airport carrying 12 Palestinian patients and their families evacuated from the Gaza Strip.
Admitted to Pisa University Hospital late Wednesday, the patient died on Friday. She was evacuated from the Gaza Strip as part of a humanitarian mission and arrived with ‘a very complex, compromised clinical picture,’ according to the hospital.
She died after entering a respiratory crisis and subsequently going into cardiac arrest, it said in a statement
UN-backed experts have warned of widespread famine unfolding in the territory and claims scores of Palestinians have been shot while trying to claim aid near distribution sites. Pictured: Two-year-old Sham Kadih is the latest child in Gaza to be pictured reportedly suffering from severe malnutrition
She was removed from the Gaza Strip as part of a humanitarian mission and arrived with a ‘with a very complex, compromised clinical picture,’ according to the hospital.
Zuhri died after entering a respiratory crisis and subsequently going into cardiac arrest, it said in a statement.
Hospital staff had performed tests and started supportive therapy before she died, the statement added.
Zuhri had arrived in Italy with her mother on one of three Italian air force flights that landed this week with critical patients suffering from serious congenital diseases, wounds or amputations, the Italian foreign ministry said at the time.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said almost 120 Gazans – 31 patients and their families – had been flown to Rome, Milan, and Pisa on three planes.
In a post on X, Tajani said that it was the 14th medical evacuation of Palestinians that Italy had conducted since January 2024, and the largest.
The hospital did not specify whether the woman had suffered from malnutrition, but said that she had arrived in a ‘state of severe physical deterioration.’
But Israel insists that Gaza is not facing starvation and says Hamas is responsible for the looting of aid. Pictured: Maryam Duvvas, 9, is reported to be in critical condition due to severe malnutrition in Gaza City
Maryam Duvvas, receiving treatment at Patient Friends Association Hospital on August 3
Pictured: People carried pots and pans to collect food from aid workers in Gaza on Sunday, August 10
Pictured: Palestinians wait with pots in their hands as a charitable organization distributes food to people in Gaza suffering food crisis
Eugenio Giani, leader of the Tuscan region, expressed his condolences Saturday for the woman’s death.
Earlier in the week, United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that starvation and malnutrition in Gaza were at their highest levels since the Israel-Hamas war began.
The U.N. says nearly 12,000 children under 5 were found to have acute malnutrition in July – including more than 2,500 with severe malnutrition, the most dangerous level. The World Health Organization says the numbers are likely an undercount.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month no one in Gaza is starving.
‘There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza,’ he said.
U.S. President Donald Trump responded to Netanyahu’s claim by noting the images emerging of emaciated people.
‘I don’t know,’ Trump said when asked if he agreed with the Israeli leader’s comment. ‘I mean, based on television, I would say not particularly because those children look very hungry.’
Over the past two weeks, Israel has allowed around triple the amount of food into Gaza than what had been entering since late May.
That was after 2.5 months when Israel barred all food, medicine and other supplies, saying it was to pressure Hamas to release hostages taken during its October 2023 attack that launched the war.
But, just days ago, distressing new photos of two skeletal-looking Palestinian children emerged amid the continued war of words.
So far, 212 people, including 98 children, have reportedly died of malnutrition according to unconfirmed figures by the Hamas-run health ministry.
Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq, a 1.5-year-old child in Gaza City, Gaza, faces life-threatening malnutrition
The UN human rights today warned that at least 1,760 Palestinians had been killed while seeking aid in Gaza since late May. Pictured: Palestinians displaced by Israeli attacks flock to a US aid distribution center to receive food assistance in Rafah, Gaza, on August 14
Pictured: Palestinians carry humanitarian aid packages near a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution center
Pictured: Displaced Palestinians gather to receive aid run by the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) on August 4
The latest harrowing images to come out of the Gaza strip appear to show a severely emaciated two-year-old crying out as he is treated in hospital.
Little Sham Kadih, who appears to be suffering from malnutrition, was pictured weeping as he is tended to at Nasser Hospital on August 10.
It comes amid an on-going shortage of baby formula and medicine, which has reportedly left scores of children on the brink of starvation.
Another image purports to show three-year-old Palestinian boy Edhem Mohammed Abu Urmana being fed just water instead of baby formula.
The youngster, who appears gaunt and thin, was forced to flee his home alongside his family amid the on-going bombing campaign by Israel.
Now staying inside a tent at the Nuseirat refugee camp, Edhem is reportedly suffering from malnutrition.
On Friday the UN warned that at least 1,760 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid in Gaza since late May – a jump of several hundred since its last published figure at the beginning of August.
‘Since 27 May, and as of 13 August, we have recorded that at least 1,760 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid; 994 in the vicinity of GHF (Gaza Humanitarian Foundation) sites and 766 along the routes of supply convoys.
‘Most of these killings were committed by the Israeli military,’ the agency’s office for the Palestinian territories said in a statement.
That compares with a figure of 1,373 killed the office reported on August 1.
The update came as Gaza’s civil defence agency said at least 38 people were killed by Israeli fire on Friday, including 12 who were waiting for humanitarian aid.
The Israeli military said its troops were working to ‘dismantle Hamas military capabilities’, adding its forces were taking precautions ‘to mitigate civilian harm’
