Gaza doctor explains how starvation forces body to consume its tissue
By : Krishna Mishra
Gaza is now effectively starving. A doctor inside the besieged enclave has now delivered a chilling breakdown of how starvation shuts down the human body, from initial hunger pangs to the collapse of vital organs.
Dr Mohammed Abu Mughaisib, deputy medical coordinator for Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), explained that in the first six to 24 hours without food, the body begins burning through its glycogen reserves. These are stored sugars that serve as emergency fuel.
By day one to three, once glycogen is depleted, the body switches to using fat, converting it into ketones to keep the brain functioning. At this point, the body enters a state of full survival mode.
From two to five days, the toll becomes severe. The body begins breaking down its own muscle tissue, including vital organs like the heart, in a desperate attempt to stay alive.
The body sacrifices its own tissue just to survive," Dr Mughaisib explains. "This is when children stop crying." Dr Mughaisib is not only describing starvation, he is living it.For the past months, I have been surviving on one meal per day," he said.
And in the last few days, I have even had only one meal every two days. Not because I cannot afford it, but because there is nothing to buy. The markets are completely empty."
Recent reports detail how health workers are collapsing from hunger while transporting patients. Ambulance drivers are starving. Children are dying.
We are expected to save lives while our own are slowly being consumed," the doctor said. "This is not just about hunger, but about the slow destruction of life, ability, and humanity.