I Tried to Donate Blood to Help Gaza’s Wounded. I Was Too Anemic and Malnourished
Like everyone else in Gaza, I have been deprived of basic protein and vitamins for the past two and a half months of Israel’s siege. I’ve lost 44 pounds and my blood is not even fit to donate.
GAZA CITY—One morning last week, I headed to the Palestinian Red Crescent center in downtown Gaza City to donate blood for the first time. The Israeli assault has been relentless and the health care system has been decimated so there are always blood shortages. The attacks have been so vicious these last few days—the number of casualties so high and the shortages so severe—that I felt compelled to do my part.
I thought I was going to help give life to others. It was I who ended up needing to be saved.
As the blood was being drawn from my arm, I began to feel extremely dizzy and then, quite suddenly, I fainted. Dr. Marah Al-Yazji, who was supervising the blood donations, rushed over to me and elevated my legs to increase blood flow to my brain until I finally regained consciousness. She went away to test my blood and ten minutes later she came back to inform me that I was suffering from severe anemia and malnutrition. My blood didn’t even have the minimal amount of nutrients to qualify to donate.
Dr. Al-Yazji said that my case was not exceptional. Most donors visiting the center suffered from anemia and malnutrition, she said, due to the ongoing Israeli siege and the lack of foods like milk, eggs, fruit, and meat.
“More than two-thirds of the blood units donated by residents show significant decreases in hemoglobin and iron levels, which is a direct reflection of the overall nutritional deterioration in the Strip,” Dr. Al-Yazji said. “With every blood donation campaign, we run into the same truth—bodies weakened by the siege and hunger, young people showing signs of aging, and women lacking even the minimum health requirements.”
I was deeply disappointed that I couldn’t help the wounded. At the same time, I realized that I had become one of the victims of siege and hunger.
Since Israel banned the entry of any and all aid into Gaza on March 2, I haven’t tasted red meat, chicken, or eggs. Like everyone else in Gaza, my body has been deprived of basic protein and vitamins. The only things on sale in the markets are falafel made from the remaining lentils and chickpeas, and a meal called duqqa, which is a mixture of ground wheat, sumac, and salt.
What we eat is not enough to silence the hunger.
While most foods have vanished, there are a few types of vegetables available for purchase from the little local agriculture still left in Gaza. Potatoes, tomatoes, and cucumbers are all on sale in the markets, but their prices have skyrocketed 20, 30, or even 40 times more than from before the war, making them inaccessible to most people in Gaza who no longer have a source of income.
I’ve lost about 20 kilograms (44 pounds) in weight. I suffer from constant fatigue, persistent joint pain, and hair loss. Even when I write my journalistic stories, I need to take brief moments of rest as I suffer pain in the joints of my hands.
A Double Helplessness
While I was at the blood donation center, a 38-year-old man named Alaa Rajab was told the same news: his blood was not fit to donate due to a diagnosis of malnutrition and anemia.
“When the doctor told me that my blood didn’t contain the minimum level of essential nutrients, I felt helpless in two ways: first, because I couldn’t help the wounded, and second, because I realized my body had become incapable,” Rajab said. “I crave a banana, an apple, or even an egg. All we have left is some rice, which will run out soon.”
Rajab said he suffers from persistent fatigue, dizziness, poor concentration, and a constant sense of overall weakness. “I feel drained most of the time,” he said. “I can barely stand for long periods and feel like I’m carrying a mountain of exhaustion on my shoulders.”
But the harshest thing Rajab shared was his experience from two weeks ago, when he found himself hunting down a small hedgehog he found in the yard of his modest home. “I never imagined I would eat hedgehog meat. These animals are rare in Gaza anyway. But hunger is cruel. I cooked it and ate it. I felt guilty afterward, but I had no other choice.”
It reminded me of the people by the sea who had been driven desperate enough to capture turtles washed ashore and to eat them for their meat.
A Critical Level
Dr. Sofia Zaarab, the head of the blood bank at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, warned that the severe shortages of donated blood unity have reached “critical” levels, threatening the lives of hundreds of patients, many of them wounded in Israeli airstrikes, who require urgent blood transfusions.
“The current stock doesn’t cover the minimum needs of operating rooms, forcing us to make difficult decisions to postpone some surgical procedures,” Dr. Zaarab said. She said that 100 percent of all blood donors now in Gaza suffer from some level of anemia, compared to a global average of nearly 30 percent.
“We reject nearly 80% of donor blood because it’s unfit to save lives,” she added. “We are facing a dual challenge—on the one hand, a shortage of blood supplies, and on the other, a deterioration in the health of donors, which hinders our efforts to meet the growing demands.”
Zaarab warned that if the current situation continues without urgent international intervention, the crisis could quickly escalate out of control. She called on humanitarian organizations to intervene immediately to secure the delivery of blood units and other essential medical supplies.
According to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) last week, 57 children have died from malnutrition since Israel imposed the blockade over two and half months ago. “This number is likely an underestimate and is likely to increase. If the situation persists, nearly 71,000 children under the age of five are expected to be acutely malnourished over the next eleven months,” the WHO said. “Famine has not yet been declared, but people are starving now.”
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