The Moral Weight of Watching Children Starve: Maternal Voices on Systematic Deprivation in Gaza

This study analyzes testimonies from 30 displaced mothers in Rafah, Gaza, through perspectives of social suffering, political famine, and feminist international relations. It reveals how systematic starvation manipulates maternal care, inflicting severe trauma. Six key themes emerged, including starvation as a deliberate tool, maternal helplessness as violence, and the child’s body as evidence. The findings illustrate starvation as a policy that destroys biosocial futures, creating a crisis of gendered insecurity. The mothers’ voices demand that starvation be recognized as a grave violation requiring urgent accountability and a redefinition of security centered on bodily integrity and care.