Image via the Palestinian People's Party
In yet another horrific example of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, a two-month-old child, named Mahmoud Fattouh, tragically succumbed to malnutrition at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. The heart-wrenching incident occurred because Mahmoud’s family was unable to find milk and basic supplies for their infant. A paramedic who assisted Mahmud’s parents described the harrowing scene: “We saw a woman carrying her baby, screaming for help. Her pale baby seemed to be taking his last breath.” Despite their efforts, Mahmoud did not survive after being rushed to the hospital and placed in the ICU with acute malnutrition.
The situation in Gaza City, particularly in the northern Gaza Strip, is dire. Almost no food has been delivered to this region since the beginning of the year. Both the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have suspended aid activities due to the ongoing conflict and destruction of infrastructure as well as actions by Israel to prevent the delivery of aid. Approximately half the population of Gaza now faces daily shortages of bread, clean water, and other essential necessities. The relentless waves of Israeli bombings have devastated factories that produce and process food, exacerbating the crisis.
This appalling, cruel death underscores the urgent need for humanitarian assistance and highlights the immense challenges faced by families in Gaza.
Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the head of Kamal Adwan Hospital, says the facility has seen a steep rise in malnutrition cases among children, especially newborns.
“Signs of weakness and paleness are apparent on newborns because the mother is malnourished,” Abu Safiya says.
The hospital, in the northern Gaza Strip, has treated babies with advanced dehydration and other complications from malnutrition, he says.
“Unfortunately many kids have died in the past weeks.”
“If we don’t get the proper aid urgently, we will be losing more and more to malnutrition.”
They also reported that earlier "this week, a new analysis from UNICEF and other aid organisations said that “a steep rise in malnutrition among children and pregnant and breastfeeding women in the Gaza strip poses grave threats to their health”.
“The Gaza Strip is poised to witness an explosion in preventable child deaths which would compound the already unbearable level of child deaths in Gaza,” said UNICEF’s deputy executive director for humanitarian action and supply operations, Ted Chaiban."