Amid the devastating famine sweeping the Gaza Strip, people with disabilities have issued a powerful plea to the international community, demanding access to food and water in ways that respect their physical and medical conditions.

In a public statement released Saturday, they voiced despair over being sidelined in the scramble for survival. “We cannot compete in long queues, nor can we go to the American death centres, nor stand in front of Israeli tanks that kill dozens of our people every day as they try to obtain food and water,” they said.

Their words echo from the margins, from those who are too ill, too injured, or too frail to fight for a loaf of bread. “Famine is killing the healthy, so what about us?” they asked. “We are deprived of even the most basic rights, especially the right to food and drink in a way that suits our health and physical needs.”

They reminded the world that access to food and water is not charity, it is a legal and moral right, enshrined in international law and human conscience. Yet in Gaza, those with disabilities are left behind, condemned to starve in silence.

Their final plea was not for pity, but for action: “How long will the world remain silent in the face of genocide and starvation? We call upon the free and the honourable to hear us, before it’s too late.”