Without a baby formula, some infants in Gaza face slow death

There is Many ways to die in the Gaza StripFriday, during a visit to a neonatal room, the NBC News team on the ground was reserved for it for the most vulnerable residents of the enclave: babies Home die for lack of formula While Israel continues to prevent supplies from entering Gaza.

In the neonatal room Nasser Hospital of Khan YounisDr. Ahmad al-Fara spends the day attending beep incubators half a dozen babies Living, each trapped in a crisis that could claim their life.

“These children face a slow death,” said Al-Fara, who heads the department.

With decreased supplies unable to be reconstructed, Dr. Marwan al-Hams, Director of Gaza field hospitalssaid on Saturday at NBC News: “We do not currently have a type 1 or 2 infant formula in hospitals, and we also do not have the medical formula we use in incubators.”

“The malnutrition of pregnant or breastfeeding mothers exacerbates the situation, cases of malnutrition in newborns and children increasing,” he added.

Other types of milk, not formulated for newborns, are always available in small quantities that Al-Fara said that volunteers get on the market, often at exorbitant prices.

Without appropriate nutrition, Gaza doctors say they have seen children not only waste, but become vulnerable to other diseases. A lack of protein quickly gives way to other complications, including infections, swelling and organ failure.

According to Al-Hams, at least 66 children died of hunger and malnutrition since the start of the current conflict on October 7, 2023.

At Nasser Hospital, Al-Farruq tends to Shams Mu’nis Dughayr, a three-year-old child in critical condition, his belly and his legs swollen due to a serious lack of protein. It should weigh 15 kilograms (33 pounds), he explains, but only weighs ten (22 pounds).

Nearby, Noha al-Lahham sits next to his frail newborn, Mohammad Hisham al-Lahham.

“My child needs milk and vitamins to live,” she says with tears on her cheeks. “I want him to grow and see life.”

While The United Nations And other organizations have long warned that Gaza risks famine, UNICEF claims that the hunger crisis has been deepened in recent months.

The children of Nasser Hospital are among the more than 16,000 between six months and five years that UNICEF estimates have been admitted to hospitals and clinics for acute malnutrition this year.

According to UNICEF, the 11 -week blockade of Israel on food, aid and medical supplies sparked a 150% increase in children admitted for malnutrition. The blockade was partially lifted on May 19, but the cases of malnutrition continue.

“Each case is avoidable,” said UNICEF regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, Edouard Beigbeder, in a statement. “The food, water and nutrition treatments they desperately need are prevented from reaching them.”

Under the current conditions, UNICEF said that acute malnutrition cases were to increase in the coming weeks and could reach the highest level since the start of the conflict.

“It is among a population of children where waste was nonexistent 20 months ago,” he said in a statement, referring to the conditions in Gaza before the current conflict start on October 7, 2023.

Hungry infants are the quieter deaths in a system of help criticized as inadequate and spoiled by deadly violence.

Given that Israel has partially raised its total blockade on Gaza on May 19, more than 500 people were killed while they were trying to obtain food, especially near the distribution sites managed by the Gaza humanitarian foundation supported by the United States, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.

Doctors Without Borders Condemned the system as “a slaughterhouse pretending to be humanitarian aid”, calling for closure, and the Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Friday that soldiers had been ordered to shoot civilians approaching aid. The Israeli army said it was investigating accusations, according to the Haaretz report, And GHF has urged a complete investigation.

United Nations Secretary General António Guterres called GHF operations “intrinsically dangerous” and urged the reintegration of the UN aid distribution system in Gaza, accusing the Israeli army of creating “a humanitarian crisis of horrible proportions”.

Israeli authorities have started to allow certain United Nations agencies and other organizations to cause limited amounts of aid, in addition to the aid distributed by GHF.

Back at Nasser Hospital, Dr. Aziz Rahman, an American voluntary intensive care specialist in Khan Younis, echoed Guterres’ warning.

“There are 600,000 children under the age of five in Gaza who are poorly fed, and we see the worst of the worst,” he said. “Can we feed these babies?” The answer is simple: allow help to enter. The solution is easy. The problem is artificial. “