Five month old starved to death in gaza war weighing less than at birth

Five month old starved to death in gaza war weighing less than at birth

At least 127 people had died from malnutrition-related causes, with adult deaths recorded in just the past few weeks, says Health Ministry; cases of child malnutrition has surged in recent weeks, says a doctor whose paediatric department is currently treating 60 cases of acute malnutrition.

A mother pressed a final kiss to what remained of her five-month-old daughter and wept. Esraa Abu Halib’s baby now weighed less than when she was born.

On a sunny street in shattered Gaza, the bundle containing Zainab Abu Halib represented the latest death from starvation after 21 months of war and Israeli restrictions on aid.

The baby was brought to the paediatric department of Nasser Hospital on Friday. She was already dead. A worker at the morgue carefully removed her Mickey Mouse-printed shirt, pulling it over her sunken, open eyes. He pulled up the hems of her pants to show her knobby knees. His thumb was wider than her ankle. He could count the bones of her chest.

The girl had weighed over 3 kg when she was born, her mother said. When she died, she weighed less than 2 kg.

A doctor said it was a case of “severe, severe starvation”.

One of 85 children

She was wrapped in a white sheet for burial and placed on the sandy ground for prayers. The bundle was barely wider than the imam’s stance. He raised his open hands and invoked Allah once more.

Zainab was one of 85 children to die of malnutrition-related causes in Gaza during the war, according to the latest toll released by the territory’s Health Ministry on Saturday. It said 127 people had died of malnutrition-related causes overall, with the adult deaths counted in just the past few weeks.

“She needed a special baby formula which did not exist in Gaza,” Zainab’s father, Ahmed Abu Halib, said as he prepared for her funeral prayers in the hospital’s courtyard in the southern city of Khan Younis.

Dr. Ahmed al-Farah, head of the paediatric department, said the girl had needed a special type of formula that helps with babies allergic to cow’s milk.

He said she hadn’t suffered from any diseases, but the lack of the formula led to chronic diarrhoea and vomiting. She wasn’t able to swallow as her weakened immune system led to a bacterial infection and sepsis, and quickly lost more weight.

The child’s family, like many of Gaza’s Palestinians, lives in a tent, displaced. Her mother, who also has suffered from malnutrition, said she breastfed the girl for only six weeks before trying to feed her formula. “With my daughter’s death, many will follow,” she said. “Their names are on a list that no one looks at. They are just names and numbers. Our children, whom we carried for nine months and then gave birth to, have become just numbers.”

Israel’s aid restriction

The arrival of children suffering from malnutrition has surged in recent weeks, al-Farah said. His department, with a capacity of eight beds, has been treating about 60 cases of acute malnutrition.

Another malnutrition clinic, affiliated with the hospital, receives an average of 40 cases weekly, he said.

Doctors and aid workers in Gaza blame Israel’s restrictions on the entry of aid and medical supplies. Food security experts warn of famine in the territory of over two million people.

After ending the latest ceasefire in March, Israel cut off the entry of food, medicine, fuel and other supplies completely to Gaza for 2 ½ months, saying it aimed to pressure Hamas to release hostages. Under international pressure, Israel eased the blockade in May. Since then, it has allowed in around 4,500 trucks for the U.N. and other aid groups to distribute, including 2,500 tons of baby food and high-calorie special food for children, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said last week.

The average of 69 trucks a day, however, is far below the 500 to 600 trucks a day the U.N. says are needed for Gaza. The U.N. says it has been unable to distribute much of the aid because hungry crowds.

Late Saturday, Israel’s Foreign Ministry announced said that: “Israel rejects the false accusations of ‘starvation’ propaganda initiated by Hamas which manipulates pictures of children suffering from terminal diseases. It is shameful.”