Khaled, who is 9 months old, weighs 5 kilograms, that is, half of the normal weight of a child in his age. In the main children’s pavilion in Gaza, doctors are trying to save him, while his mother (Widad Abdel -Al) can only watch.
The young child is hungry, and he has suffered for half of his short life, as he suffers from drought and very weak. Connected to his small left hand, a yellow tube carrying liquid food to its brittle small body.
After successive emergency visits, doctors decided to enter the hospital last week. For about a week, it was fed through the tube, then it was given food supplements and packed milk, distributed every 3 hours or more. His mother, tense and unable, says this is not enough. His mother continues to “Associated Press”: “I wish they would give us every hour. He is eagerly awaiting him … but they also suffer from a deficiency in supplies. This border closure destroys us. ”
The longer the boy’s stay in the hospital, the more healthy. But Abdel -Al suffers from the pain of her other children in their tent, with empty pots and have no food, with the siege of Israel entering Gaza for his third month, which is the longest since the war began.
The Gaza Strip faces the besieged, closed and destroyed by the Israeli bombing. Thousands of children have received treatment of malnutrition. Parents such as Abdel -Al, exhausted and homeless and live on subsistence for more than a year and a half of the war, watching their children melt, and they find that nothing they can do. They no longer have options.
On the edge of the abyss
Hospitals are working on the edge of the abyss, dealing with severe crowds, and gives priority to deadly emergency situations. Food stocks were depleted in United Nations warehouses, as well as the emptying of the markets. The remainder of them are sold at exorbitant prices, which most of the residents of Gaza cannot bear, as more than 80 percent of them depend on aid, according to the United Nations. The societal kitchens that distribute meals over thousands are closed.
Agricultural lands are mostly not accessible. And bakeries closed their doors. The distribution of water is completely stopped, and this is largely due to a lack of fuel. In desperate scenes, thousands crowded, many of whom are children, outside the societal kitchens, and fight on food. A few warehouses were looted.
The longest siege on Gaza sparked an increased international denunciation, but failed to persuade Israel to open the border. More organizations accuse Israel of starvation of a war weapon. Population and humanitarian workers warn of the aggravation of acute malnutrition among children.
In this regard, Michael Ryan, Executive Director of Emergency Cases at the World Health Organization, told reporters in Geneva: “We break the bodies and minds of Gaza’s children, because if we do nothing about it, we are complicit in front of our eyes … children should not pay the price.”
Israel imposed the siege on March 2, and then ended the two -month ceasefire with the resumption of military operations on March 18, saying that these two steps were necessary to pressure Hamas to release the hostages. Before the ceasefire collapsed, Israel believed that 59 hostages were still inside Gaza, 24 of them alive, and they were still in families.
Israel did not respond to the accusations of its starvation of war tactics. But Israeli officials previously said that Gaza obtained enough aid, after a significant increase in the distribution during the ceasefire, and accused Hamas of transferring aid for its own purposes. Humanitarian workers deny a major transfer, saying that the United Nations is accurately monitoring the distribution.
Or does she want to help her son – but she cannot
Khaled has suffered from malnutrition, since he was two months old. His mother was able to deal with the matter through outpatient visits and nutritional supplements distributed in nutrition centers. But over the past seven months, Abd al -Al -Al -Al -Al -Aal, (31 years old), was watching him slowly losing his weight. The mother also suffers from malnutrition, and has not eaten almost any protein in recent months. After an overburden and two -day birth, Khaled – a slim weight child, was born two and a half kilograms, but he is in good health. Abdel -Al started breastfeeding him. But due to the lack of calcium, it began to lose its teeth, and produce a very small amount of milk. “Breastfeeding needs food, and I cannot feed him enough,” the mother says.
And Khalid has four other brothers, between the ages of 9 and 4 years. The family was displaced from Rafah, and now lives in a tent in the north in Ma’is Khan Yunis. As the food is running out due to the siege, the family became dependent on charitable quantities that offer rice, pasta and cooked beans. Cooking in the tent is a struggle: there is no gas, and to find wood or plastic to burn it is exhausting and risks.
Ahmed (7 years) and Maria (4 years) appear, already signs of malnutrition. Ahmed weighs 8 kilograms; His bones are highly due to the lack of food. He does not get any nutritional supplements in nutrition centers, which serve children under 6 years of age. Maria (4 years) also lost her weight, but there is no balance for her weight. “My children have become very meager,” said the father. They are like chicks. ”
Nutrition centers throughout Gaza closes their doors. Since March 2, United Nations agencies have documented a rise in acute malnutrition among children. They suffer from decreased immunity, disease repetition, weight loss, muscle mass, bone or abdomen, and hair omitivity.
Since the beginning of the year, more than 9,000 children have been admitted to hospitals, or have received treatment of acute malnutrition, according to UNICEF. The month of March witnessed a noticeable increase; 3600 cases were recorded, an increase of 80 percent, compared to 2,000 children treated in February.
Since then, the situation has worsened. According to “UNICEF”, the supplies used to prevent malnutrition, such as nutritional supplements and biscuits. Also, therapeutic foods used to treat acute malnutrition are alienated.
Parents and careants share malnutrition treatments to compensate for the deficiency, which undermines treatment. Nearly half of the 200 nutrition centers were closed throughout Gaza due to displacement and bombing.
The collapse of the medical system
Meanwhile, supplies accumulate on the border; As Israel prevents it from entering Gaza. “It is quite clear that we will witness more wasting cases, which is the most dangerous forms of malnutrition,” says Jonathan Krix, a UNICEF spokesman. It is also clear that we will see more children die because of these diseases. ”
Souad Obaid, a dietitian in Gaza, adds to the Associated Press that parents are increasingly hesitating the nutrition centers because they do not have what they feed for their children. “No one can rely on canned food and emergency nutrition for nearly two years.”
In Nasser Hospital, 4 critical cases were receiving treatment last week from acute malnutrition, including Khaled. Only critical cases are accepted – and for short periods only until more children can be treated. Dr. Yasser Abu Ghali says: “If we receive all people with acute malnutrition, we will need hundreds of beds,” saying: “We cannot help many in any case … Nothing is in our hands.”
The pathology and treatment management system collapsed. Before the war, hundreds of families in Gaza were recorded and treated from birth defects, genetic disorders or autoimmune disorders, a system of mostly rivers due to the depletion of food, structures or tablets that help in managing diseases quickly.
Dr. Ahmed Al -Farah, head of the pediatric and obstetrician department at Nasser Hospital, says that hundreds of children with genetic disorders may also suffer from cognitive disorders, if not worse. “They are sentenced to death.”
No meat or fish
In addition, the case of Osama Al -Raqab has worsened with cystic fibrosis since the beginning of the war. His mother (Mona) says that lack of meat, fish and enzyme tablets that help him digest food led to frequent visits to the hospital and long bouts of chest infections and acute diarrhea. His bones appear prominent of his skin. As for Osama, who is 5 years old, he wears 9 kilograms, and he can barely move or speak. The canned food does not provide him with any nutrition. His mother says: “With famine in Gaza, we only eat canned lentils. If the border remains closed, we will lose it too. ”
The child, Rahma Al -Qadi, had Down syndrome, 7 months ago. Since then, Sama’s weight has been more than half a pound (300 grams), and I was hospitalized several times due to fever.
Her mother, who is also suffering from malnutrition and still suffers from inflammation after birth, continues to breastfeed. But this is not enough.
