Severely malnourished Gaza woman flown to Italy for treatment dies at 20

A 20-year-old Palestinian woman flown to Italy from Gaza for urgent medical treatment has died, the University Hospital of Pisa said on Saturday.

Marah Abu Zuhri arrived with her mother on a humanitarian flight organised by the Italian government late Wednesday.

Doctors described her condition as “very complex,” saying she was in an advanced state of organic wasting.

Despite undergoing tests and beginning treatment, Abu Zuhri suffered a sudden respiratory crisis and cardiac arrest on Friday, the hospital said. Italian news agencies reported that she had been severely malnourished.

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Her evacuation was part of a wider humanitarian effort. According to the Italian foreign ministry, three military flights this week brought 31 patients from Gaza, most of them children and young people with severe injuries, amputations, or chronic illnesses, along with their companions.

Since the Israeli attack on Gaza, more than 180 patients have been brought to Italy for treatment.

The head of the Tuscany region, Eugenio Giani, expressed condolences to the woman’s family. Humanitarian organisations and UN agencies have repeatedly warned of the risk of famine in Gaza, where months of conflict have devastated civilian life.