Starvation And Healthcare Collapse Loom Over Gaza

Hunger in Gaza is killing children as Israel continues its attacks and obstructs food delivery to the enclave. These attacks have inhibited international organizations and healthcare providers from trying to offer nutrition support, increasing the risk of disease outbreaks and long-term effects on health.

Over 8,000 children under five have been diagnosed with acute malnutrition, with 32 deaths confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO), including 28 children under the age of five. UNICEF warns that thousands of children who were receiving nutrition support have been cut off due to increased assaults in southern Gaza. The numbers are almost certainly an underestimate, considering that the collection of data in the current circumstances has been hampered.

James Smith, a physician who recently returned from a medical mission in the Strip, told Democracy Now that it is crucial to understand hunger in Gaza within the broader context of Israeli violence. “This overfixation on the number of trucks entering Gaza… is a distraction from the violence and its many manifestations,” he warned.

The ongoing starvation, bombardments of health facilities, arrests of health workers, and blocked roads leading to hospitals are devastating for everyone, especially women and children. UNICEF refers to an “unbearable” level of child deaths.

Neonatal and maternity units have been decimated, with only four neonatal intensive care units operational. These units are operating at 500 percent capacity, with several babies sharing a single incubator. Hospitals lack food for infants admitted for hunger-related illnesses, and mothers cannot breastfeed due to their own hunger.

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