Hatim Alhaddad, a 1-day-old newborn, died on June 14 due to respiratory issues compounded by malnutrition. Abdulaziz Abdulrahman Salem, 15 days old, died on March 2 from famine edema, which is characterized by facial swelling. Mira Muhammad Bakr Al Shawa, 15 days old, passed away on March 3, also due to respiratory difficulties worsened by malnutrition. Youssef Sami Al-Tiramisi, 25 days old, died on February 6 due to malnutrition. The heartbreaking toll is far from over.
Since the start of the war launched by Israel against Gaza on October 7, 2023, following the deadly Hamas attack on Israeli territory, the pediatric department of Kamal Adwan Hospital, located in the northern part of the Palestinian enclave, has recorded the deaths of 37 children from malnutrition and dehydration. At the time of their deaths, all the above-mentioned newborns weighed less than the average. Abdulrahman Salem weighed 1.3 kilos.
Hussam Abu Safiya, a doctor at the same hospital, sees around 30 children a day "with symptoms of malnutrition and severe dehydration," explained the Gaza-based physician, contacted via WhatsApp. "In May, I examined a 7-year-old girl. Her mother told me that her child hadn't eaten or drunk anything for five days. I couldn't save her. She died after three days in hospital."
At Nasser Hospital, located further south in the Gaza Strip, in Khan Younis, three children have died since May, due to malnutrition. "A 6-year-old boy and two girls, one aged 1 year and the other 6 months," explained Ahmed Al-Farra, a doctor from Gaza. "The 6-month-old was called Toline. She was hospitalized several times, but the last time, on August 23, we couldn't save her." In the photos of her alive that Al-Farra sent to Le Monde, the little girl, crying, was only skin and bones.
In the pediatric ward of Nasser Hospital, nine children are hospitalized, suffering from a lack of food and drinking water, sometimes coupled with other health problems. The hospital's children's intensive care unit, which mainly treats those injured in the bombardments, no longer has the capacity to care for the others, those suffering from malnutrition. "We have tried to allocate a small space for these children in the adult intensive care unit. But there are often no beds available there either," deplored Al-Farra.
Contacted by Le Monde, UNICEF sounded the alarm: "More than 50,000 children in the Gaza Strip require immediate medical treatment for acute malnutrition." The UN organization and its partners have identified a total of 8,811 children suffering from famine.
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