Last month, unable to carry the weight of two cameras, a work laptop, and his body armor, Gazan photojournalist Bashar Taleb made the decision to prioritize his health over his work. The 30-year-old, who has worked with Agence France-Presse since 2010, had lost 35 pounds, he says, and began to calculate the distances he needs to cover. “Can I make it back home, or not? Will I be able to find a means of transportation, or not?” He describes feeling weak and dizzy every day.
The starvation forecast from over a year ago has now taken hold in Gaza. The U.N. World Food Programme this week said 100,000 women and children suffer from acute severe malnutrition, and a third of the territory’s 2.1 million residents have missed meals for more than multiple consecutive days. On Wednesday, at least 10 Palestinians died of starvation, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, raising the total number of hunger-related deaths to 113, including at least 80 children.
Journalists like Alkahlut, who lives in Al-Karama, North Gaza, are facing starvation along with the community they cover. “Today we ate one meal, that’s enough for us to live another day,” says Khalil Alkahlut, who works for the Anadolu Agency, a state-run Turkish news agency headquartered in Ankara.
The 22-year-old photojournalist estimates that he has lost 60 pounds, speaking to TIME on Tuesday, Alkahlut was, like his three younger brothers, getting by on one serving of lentils a day, no breakfast, and no dinner. “Tomorrow, I don’t know what we will eat.”
With international journalists barred by Israel from working independently in Gaza, local reporters are providing first-person accounts of hunger—provided they still have the strength to work. On Monday, the Société des Journalistes de l’Agence France-Presse, the union of Agence France-Presse, warned that AFP’s remaining freelance staff in Gaza were at risk of death…
