Five starving children were brought to Gaza City Hospital for treatment, however, doctors could do nothing to save them.
Under Israel’s blockade, they no longer had access to treatments for malnourishment. The alternatives they had also proved to be ineffective.
Over the next four days, the young children starved to death one after the other, none of whom had pre-existing conditions.
Four of them, between the ages of 4 months and 2 years, suffered gastric arrest, meaning their stomachs had shut down. The fifth, a four and a half year old girl, died from severe potassium deficiency.
The main emergency center for malnourished kids, Patient’s Friends Hospital, located in northern Gaza, is now overwhelmed with starving children.
According to Dr. Rana Soboh, a nutritionist at the hospital, the babies and toddlers are now too weak to move or cry. Symptoms in general are also getting worse.
In the past, they were able to treat starving children, despite supply shortages; however, that’s no longer the case.
This month, hunger has surged considerably among the more than 2 million Palestinians living in Gaza. Not only are children falling victim, but adults are too, under Israel’s blockade.
In the past 28 days, nearly 50 people have died due to malnutrition, including 20 children and 28 adults. That’s a significant increase compared to the previous months, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Dr. John Kahler, a pediatrician and co-founder of Medglobal – an organization that works to improve healthcare in vulnerable communities such as Gaza – said that while humans can live with calorific deficits, it can only go so far.
He described the current situation as “the start of a population death spiral.”
Nearly 100,000 women and kids are in urgent need for malnutrition treatments, said the U.N.’s World Food Program. However, hospitals have already run out of medications.
Israel has blamed Hamas for the disruption of food distribution.
Hundreds of Malnourished Children
Dr. Soboh said the Patient’s Friends Hospital sees 200 to 300 malnourished babies and toddlers a day.
Those in serious condition are brought to the hospital’s 10-bed ward, which this month, had up to 19 kids at a time.
While the ward is typically reserved for those under the age of 5, staff have began to bring older children in due to worsening starvation.
Those who work at the hospital are not exempt from hunger either, with many putting themselves on IV drips to keep going.
