Gaza- Princess Al-Jojo is very concerned about the life of her child, Youssef, who suffers from severe malnutrition, and is in the children’s department of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, in the city of Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip.
Youssef’s problem does not lie in the lack of food, but rather in the lack of milk suitable for his health condition, due to the strict siege imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip.
Youssef’s case highlights other aspects of the causes of the malnutrition problem in Gaza, in addition to the lack and quality of food.
Starvation policy
The Israeli starvation policy caused the death of about 37 children, the last of whom were two children who died on May 30 and June 1 in the central Gaza Strip.
Before the war, Youssef (10 months old) – who weighed no more than 5 kilograms – responded to a type of therapeutic milk and began to gain weight, but his health condition deteriorated after he ran out of markets as a result of the Israeli siege, and other types of milk did not help his condition.
His mother told Tel Aviv Tribune Net that saving her son’s life depends on providing him with appropriate milk, which is not available due to the continuing war.
In the bed next to Youssef, baby Saif Abu Musaed (7 months old) lies. His mother, Noha Al-Khalidi, explains that her son’s problem is due to the inability to accurately diagnose his health condition, due to the collapse that the health sector is suffering from.
Al-Khalidi adds that they had to stop milking Saif because he complained of severe flatulence, which could lead to serious complications. She added, “If there had been no war, we would have performed exploratory surgery and diagnosed his condition correctly and he responded to treatment. Now we fear that the intestines will burst; my son’s life is in danger.”
According to Dr. Sherif Matar, a pediatric specialist at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, the problem of malnutrition in the Gaza Strip is “more serious and complex than everyone thinks.”
Matar added to Tel Aviv Tribune Net, “The idea is not that the boy ate and was full, but what did he eat? There is almost only one food, which is bread. There is no healthy or varied food. The body needs integrated food that contains minerals, proteins, and vitamins, and this has not been available for 8 months.” “.
He also pointed out that malnutrition increases the diseases that children suffer from due to the collapse of the immune system, which increases their need to take strong antibiotics to treat minor diseases.
Tragic situation
Doctor Matar touched on the problem of children dying due to the lack of therapeutic milk. He pointed out that children suffering from some diseases and syndromes need specific types of milk, which cannot be changed. Due to the war and the Israeli siege, many types of milk have run out, which puts children at risk of death.
Matar explains that the problem is worse than people imagine; Because therapeutic milk is similar to antibiotics or medications, every sick child has a special type of milk, and it is absolutely useless to replace it with another type.
He explained that the families of children who suffer from diseases that require therapeutic milk suffer greatly in providing it, and their children face the risk of death. He pointed out that many types of this milk are not available at all, or are rare in Gaza due to the occupation’s measures.
Some families are also forced to use other types of therapeutic milk due to the lack of the required type, which has caused their children to have more trouble and new diseases such as milk protein allergy and serious intestinal problems, according to the same source.
Doctor Matar pointed out that the collapse of the health system in the Gaza Strip increases the risk of death for children suffering from malnutrition. He cited the conditions in the children’s department at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where he says that its capacity originally did not exceed 20 to 30 beds.
He added that those present – only – in the department’s corridors are more than its original capacity, and there are 85 permanent resident cases, and that they are unable to receive dozens of cases, and the department does not contain intensive care rooms, which causes the death of many children.
Before the war, the pediatric department used to send samples for examination abroad, especially in the West Bank or Israeli hospitals, but this stopped, and led to the inability to diagnose many diseases, according to Matar.
The specter of famine returns
The Palestinian Ministry of Health and human rights organizations say that during the war, the occupation “deliberately” targeted the majority of hospitals and medical centers in the Gaza Strip, which caused them to be out of service.
Moving to the northern region of the Gaza Strip, the problem of child malnutrition appears more tragic, as the occupation army practices a deliberate policy of starvation, denounced by the United Nations and criticized by many countries of the world.
Dr. Saeed Salah, a consultant in pediatrics and neonatology, tells Tel Aviv Tribune Net the story of a two-month-old girl who arrived to him last week, in a state of “final extraction,” and she was treated and her life was saved by tube feeding.
It became clear to him that the cause of the severe malnutrition to which the child was exposed was the repeated displacement of her parents from one place to another, escaping the occupation army’s invasions of the northern areas of the Gaza Strip, which caused her mother to be unable to breastfeed her, after her milk dried up due to fear, depression, and lack of food.
Dr. Salah, who also holds the position of head of the digestive system, liver, and nutrition for children at the Ministry of Health in Gaza City, accuses Israel of deliberately starving children, who represent about 40% of the Gaza Strip’s population, with the aim of affecting their structure and future behavior. He says, “The purpose of starvation is to create a generation that is psychologically disturbed and physically thin.”
Regarding the deaths that occurred among children due to malnutrition, Salah points out that they lived in families that lacked the ability to buy food due to lack of income, in addition to that they were more vulnerable to diseases due to hunger and a weak immune system.
Salah adds – for the previous reasons – the lack of therapeutic milk and medicines due to the siege, and the inability of parents to go to the remaining health centers to treat their children.
