Prominent Palestinian academic dies from Israeli-imposed Gaza famine

A prominent Palestinian academic, writer and poet has died from severe malnutrition as a result of Israel's months-long blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Omar Harb died on Thursday after his health had deteriorated in recent weeks, local media reported.

The total number of famine-related deaths in Gaza has risen to 370, with the majority of victims comprised of children, women and the elderly. 

According to an interview with Al Jazeera published three weeks before his death, the 60-year-old academic had endured hardship and poor physical health as a result of the genocide. 

Harb also lost at least 26 members of his family, including his wife, several children and grandchildren. Five of his family's homes had been destroyed by Israeli attacks.

Before October 2023, Harb weighed nearly 120 kilograms. At the time of one of his last media appearances, the scholar weighed no more than 40kg. 

Harb looked gaunt during the interview, and expressed sorrow over the difficulties he faced - most notably the killing of his loved ones. 

He also called for food, medication, treatment and even a new wheelchair - none of which he received in time to save him.

Harb, who had several qualifications in psychology and graduated from Egypt's prestigious Al-Azhar university, was active in his field up until Israel's onslaught on Gaza began, regularly participating in regional events.

Israel has laid siege to Gaza since 2007, making life difficult for the enclave's population of 2.2 million Palestinians. Harb helped people suffering under those conditions by offering them psychological support.

His own health began to deteriorate following the Israeli strikes on his family homes and the killing of his relatives.

Though Harb was told that he would be evacuated from Gaza during Ramadan last year, he then received a call to inform him that his name was not in fact on the list of evacuees headed for Egypt. 

"I saw my pictures before and after, and I thought: 'it's impossible that this is the same person'," he recalled in the interview with Al Jazeera. 

"We no longer know why we have reached this point. The people are suffering and no one is paying attention to the suffering of the people. We are waiting for God, glory be to Him, to stand with us." 

'Shameful global failure'

According to the Gaza health ministry, 1.9 million people are suffering from malnutrition. 

At least 641,000 of those are enduring the severest levels of famine, it said.

'I saw my pictures before and after, and I thought: "it's impossible that this is the same person"'

– Omar Harb, speaking to Al Jazeera 

In late August, famine was officially declared in Gaza for the first time by the Integrated Food Phase Classification (IPC), the UN-backed global hunger monitor. 

The IPC is the globally recognised system for classifying the severity of food insecurity.

It declares famine if three criteria are met: at least 20 percent of households face an extreme lack of food, at least 30 percent of children are suffering acute malnutrition, and two out of every 10,000 are dying each day due to "outright starvation". 

Islamic Relief, the UK-based international aid group, described the famine in Gaza as "a shameful global failure". 

"The famine is no accident - Israel is intentionally starving Palestinians to death," it said in a statement.

"It is entirely man-made, caused by Israel’s cruel and illegal blockade and the complicity of world leaders who have failed to stop the daily war crimes."