Latest news with #CoordinationofGovernmentActivitiesintheTerritories
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Malnourished children, hospital supplies running low: Impact of 2 months of no aid in Gaza
Israel's decision to halt all humanitarian aid from crossing into Gaza is entering its third month. The Israeli government said the blockade is to pressure Hamas to release the remaining 59 hostages, including the remains of those who have died, and to accept a new proposal to extend phase one of the ceasefire deal, which ended on March 18. Israel's Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) wrote in a post on X in late April that humanitarian personnel have been allowed to enter and exit Gaza to support humanitarian efforts in the strip. MORE: Gaza aid timeline: How the hunger crisis unfolded amid the Israel-Hamas war But multiple doctors and international aid workers told ABC News that water, food, medicine and medical supplies are running low, and in some cases running out completely. Children are becoming malnourished, diseases are at risk of spreading and those who are injured cannot be treated properly, the workers said. "If nothing is done, if food is not brought in, if water is not brought in, if vaccines are not brought in at scale -- we're already in a catastrophe, and we're going to have way more children dying [from] preventable causes," Jonathan Crickx, chief of communication for UNICEF Palestine, told ABC News. A Trump administration official told ABC News there is a no-yet-finalized plan to administer the delivery of humanitarian aid in Gaza, starting with fewer than half a dozen distribution sites set up throughout the enclave. The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately return ABC News' request for comment. The lack of food entering Gaza is one of the most severe problems the strip is facing, according to aid workers. Osama As, the lead for quality, evidence and learning with the Mercy Corps Gaza Emergency Response Program, said the situation "is getting worse day after day, especially in relation to food" because most people in Gaza depend on humanitarian aid and community kitchens for food. He said most families survive on one meal a day, and that most food available is canned food and bread. "I never imagined that we would reach this point. Most people cannot afford the remaining items, which are either like canned foods and few quantities of vegetables which are produced locally here in Gaza," As, who is based in Gaza, said. "The prices are very high, so I think most people cannot afford these kinds of items to buy from the local market." Dr. Ahmed Alfar, head of the pediatrics department at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, said he has seen many examples of malnourished children over the past two months. One example he gave is a baby girl named Siwar, who was born four months ago. At birth, she weighed 2.5 kilograms, or 5.5 pounds. MORE: Gaza aid timeline: How the hunger crisis unfolded amid the Israel-Hamas war Four months later, she should be weighing about 5 kilograms, or 11 pounds. Instead, she is only about 6 pounds, according to Alfar. Alfar said the mother is unable to lactate and the family does not have much money, so they have been unable to feed Siwar milk, just sweetened water. "That means in four months she gained just 200 grams, and this is unbelievable," he told ABC News in Arabic. "She was a full-term baby. She was delivered vaginally. Her health was completely normal. ... We called it one of the most severe [cases of] malnutrition. Now Siwar is facing a severe, critical situation." Similarly, Crickx, from UNICEF Palestine, who is currently in Al Mawasi, in southern Gaza, said he visited Nasser Hospital this week and met a 4-year-old boy named Osama. Crickx said Osama should weigh 15 to 16 kilograms, about 33 to 35 pounds. Instead, he weighs 8 kilograms, or 17.5 pounds, Crickx said. He said UNICEF and its partners have a small number of ready-to-use therapeutic foods to treat malnutrition, but they are running out. UNICEF has already run out of food meant to address the first signs of malnutrition. "[Osama] has, really, the skin on the bones, and he was healthy before the beginning of this terrible war," Crickx said. "So, we are now in a situation where children are hungry, they are little by little being affected more and more by acute malnutrition, acute severe malnutrition. And if nothing is done, we fear that the worst will happen to them." Community kitchen workers told ABC News if the border crossings remain closed, markets will close, and ingredients will run out. Some food relief organizations have already closed. In late April, the United Nations' World Food Programme said it had delivered its last remaining food stocks to hot meal kitchens in Gaza, and it expected to fully run out of food in the coming days. Additionally, the nonprofit group World Central Kitchen (WCK) announced on Wednesday that it had run out of supplies and ingredients needed to cook meals or bake bread in Gaza. WCK said it has trucks loaded with food and cooking fuel that have been ready to enter Gaza since early March as well as additional food and equipment ready to be shipped from Jordan and Egypt. "In recent weeks, our teams stretched every remaining ingredient and fuel source using creativity and determination. We turned to alternative fuels like wood pallets and olive husk pellets and pivoted away from rice recipes that require more fuel in favor of stews with bread," WCK said. "But we have now reached the limits of what is possible." The blockade has also had an impact on the spread of disease in Gaza, aid workers said. Overcrowding in tent camps -- along with a lack of clean water, hygiene products and poor sanitation -- puts Gazans at risk of contracting infectious diseases, they said. Limited supplies of soap and hygienic products "will continue to lead to escalation in skin manifestations of diseases like scabies," Dr. Aqsa Durrani, a pediatrician who was recently on assignment in Gaza with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, told ABC News. MORE: A Palestinian girl suffered burns to over 60% of her body: This is her monthslong journey out of a war zone It's unclear how many infections have been diagnosed over the past two months but a study from April 2024 estimated 55,400 cases of scabies and lice outbreaks among children under age five who were displaced. Limited clean drinking water and overcrowded camps has also led to a rise in diarrheal diseases. A report from the Institute for Palestine Studies estimates at least half of cases recorded as of Jan. 2024 have been among children under 5 years old. Crickx said a majority of children are affected by chronic watery diarrhea, which can lead to serious complications for babies and toddlers. There has also been a rise in vaccine-preventable diseases in Gaza including hepatitis A, chickenpox, measles and polio. Aid workers say the blockade imposed by Israel has halted the delivery of vaccines, such as the oral polio vaccine to Gaza, leaving residents vulnerable to diseases. "Even in these terrible conditions, we have pregnant women and babies still being born in this community and population of 2 million people," Durrani said. "And so, we need more vaccinations as well vaccines." Since Hamas launched its surprise terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel responded by declaring war, thousands have reportedly been killed or injured. Israel has said its goal is to destroy Hamas and that it attempts to minimize civilian casualties as often as possible. More than 15 months into the conflict, Hamas and Israel reached a ceasefire deal. The ceasefire saw the withdrawal of some Israeli forces to allow more aid to get in and the release of some of the hostages. However, resumption of hostilities in mid-March led to an increase in injuries, Crickx said. UNICEF estimates that more than 500 children have been killed since March 18 and more than 1.250 children have been injured. MORE: A Palestinian girl suffered burns to over 60% of her body: This is her monthslong journey out of a war zone Durrani -- who worked as medical activity manager for MSF at a field hospital in Deir al Balah in central Gaza from the end of February until the end of April -- said she saw injuries caused by air strikes, fires after air strikes and from large cooking fires. "Because there's no cooking gas, people are burning household items and trying to cook over large open flames,' she said. "So, we also saw children with burns due to those flames, as well as scald burns from children who had been waiting in food distribution lines, and the jostling of the food items would then lead to them being injured from hot food." What's more, burn victims or those who are injured can take longer to heal due to malnourishment. They can also be at risk of infections or skin graft failure. Durrani explained that poor wound healing can be associated with poor nutrition, which resulted in some pediatric burn patients developing infections. "Not only was our staff hungry, but we also had no food for our patients, including our pediatric patients," Durrani said. "Other than just being harrowing from a human perspective, it's also, from a medical perspective, really impacts the way that people can heal from these injuries, and these types of burns." "Not even being clear that we will have enough antibiotics to treat the infection if the patients develop infections," she continued. "In the face of also not having enough surgical materials or concern that we may run critically low on anesthesia supplies if they need to go back to the [operating room]." In conversations with doctors this week, Crickx said hospitals are experiencing shortages of anesthetics and anticoagulants. There is also a lack of medical supplies to fix bones when they suffer fractures, he said. Durrani said her team was forced to ration medications, including painkillers, antibiotics and critical surgery supplies. They often had to perform painful procedures and wound dressing changes without any pain control. She said she didn't want to cause pain by removing dressings without proper pain control, but if the dressings aren't removed, then it could lead to infections for patients. "We're being forced to make impossible decisions like that, which is unconscionable, given that just miles away there are trucks and trucks full of food and supplies and medications and nutritional sources," she said. "For me personally, this is the first time that I had to look patients in the eye and say I didn't have something that I know is just miles away." ABC News' Shannon Kingston and Diaa Ostaz contributed to this report. Malnourished children, hospital supplies running low: Impact of 2 months of no aid in Gaza originally appeared on
10-05-2025
- Health
Malnourished children, hospital supplies running low: Impact of 2 months of no aid in Gaza
Israel's decision to halt all humanitarian aid from crossing into Gaza is entering its third month. The Israeli government said the blockade is to pressure Hamas to release the remaining 59 hostages, including the remains of those who have died, and to accept a new proposal to extend phase one of the ceasefire deal, which ended on March 18. Israel's Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) wrote in a post on X in late April that humanitarian personnel have been allowed to enter and exit Gaza to support humanitarian efforts in the strip. But multiple doctors and international aid workers told ABC News that water, food, medicine and medical supplies are running low, and in some cases running out completely. Children are becoming malnourished, diseases are at risk of spreading and those who are injured cannot be treated properly, the workers said. "If nothing is done, if food is not brought in, if water is not brought in, if vaccines are not brought in at scale -- we're already in a catastrophe, and we're going to have way more children dying [from] preventable causes," Jonathan Crickx, chief of communication for UNICEF Palestine, told ABC News. A Trump administration official told ABC News there is a no-yet-finalized plan to administer the delivery of humanitarian aid in Gaza, starting with fewer than half a dozen distribution sites set up throughout the enclave. The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately return ABC News' request for comment. Children becoming malnourished The lack of food entering Gaza is one of the most severe problems the strip is facing, according to aid workers. Osama As, the lead for quality, evidence and learning with the Mercy Corps Gaza Emergency Response Program, said the situation "is getting worse day after day, especially in relation to food" because most people in Gaza depend on humanitarian aid and community kitchens for food. He said most families survive on one meal a day, and that most food available is canned food and bread. "I never imagined that we would reach this point. Most people cannot afford the remaining items, which are either like canned foods and few quantities of vegetables which are produced locally here in Gaza," As, who is based in Gaza, said. "The prices are very high, so I think most people cannot afford these kinds of items to buy from the local market." Dr. Ahmed Alfar, head of the pediatrics department at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, said he has seen many examples of malnourished children over the past two months. One example he gave is a baby girl named Siwar, who was born four months ago. At birth, she weighed 2.5 kilograms, or 5.5 pounds. Four months later, she should be weighing about 5 kilograms, or 11 pounds. Instead, she is only about 6 pounds, according to Alfar. Alfar said the mother is unable to lactate and the family does not have much money, so they have been unable to feed Siwar milk, just sweetened water. "That means in four months she gained just 200 grams, and this is unbelievable," he told ABC News in Arabic. "She was a full-term baby. She was delivered vaginally. Her health was completely normal. ... We called it one of the most severe [cases of] malnutrition. Now Siwar is facing a severe, critical situation." Similarly, Crickx, from UNICEF Palestine, who is currently in Al Mawasi, in southern Gaza, said he visited Nasser Hospital this week and met a 4-year-old boy named Osama. Crickx said Osama should weigh 15 to 16 kilograms, about 33 to 35 pounds. Instead, he weighs 8 kilograms, or 17.5 pounds, Crickx said. He said UNICEF and its partners have a small number of ready-to-use therapeutic foods to treat malnutrition, but they are running out. UNICEF has already run out of food meant to address the first signs of malnutrition. "[Osama] has, really, the skin on the bones, and he was healthy before the beginning of this terrible war," Crickx said. "So, we are now in a situation where children are hungry, they are little by little being affected more and more by acute malnutrition, acute severe malnutrition. And if nothing is done, we fear that the worst will happen to them." Community kitchen workers told ABC News if the border crossings remain closed, markets will close, and ingredients will run out. Some food relief organizations have already closed. In late April, the United Nations' World Food Programme said it had delivered its last remaining food stocks to hot meal kitchens in Gaza, and it expected to fully run out of food in the coming days. Additionally, the nonprofit group World Central Kitchen (WCK) announced on Wednesday that it had run out of supplies and ingredients needed to cook meals or bake bread in Gaza. WCK said it has trucks loaded with food and cooking fuel that have been ready to enter Gaza since early March as well as additional food and equipment ready to be shipped from Jordan and Egypt. "In recent weeks, our teams stretched every remaining ingredient and fuel source using creativity and determination. We turned to alternative fuels like wood pallets and olive husk pellets and pivoted away from rice recipes that require more fuel in favor of stews with bread," WCK said. "But we have now reached the limits of what is possible." Risk of spreading disease The blockade has also had an impact on the spread of disease in Gaza, aid workers said. Overcrowding in tent camps -- along with a lack of clean water, hygiene products and poor sanitation -- puts Gazans at risk of contracting infectious diseases, they said. Limited supplies of soap and hygienic products "will continue to lead to escalation in skin manifestations of diseases like scabies," Dr. Aqsa Durrani, a pediatrician who was recently on assignment in Gaza with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, told ABC News. It's unclear how many infections have been diagnosed over the past two months but a study from April 2024 estimated 55,400 cases of scabies and lice outbreaks among children under age five who were displaced. Limited clean drinking water and overcrowded camps has also led to a rise in diarrheal diseases. A report from the Institute for Palestine Studies estimates at least half of cases recorded as of Jan. 2024 have been among children under 5 years old. Crickx said a majority of children are affected by chronic watery diarrhea, which can lead to serious complications for babies and toddlers. There has also been a rise in vaccine-preventable diseases in Gaza including hepatitis A, chickenpox, measles and polio. Aid workers say the blockade imposed by Israel has halted the delivery of vaccines, such as the oral polio vaccine to Gaza, leaving residents vulnerable to diseases. "Even in these terrible conditions, we have pregnant women and babies still being born in this community and population of 2 million people," Durrani said. "And so, we need more vaccinations as well vaccines." Hospitals running out of supplies to treat injured Since Hamas launched its surprise terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel responded by declaring war, thousands have reportedly been killed or injured. Israel has said its goal is to destroy Hamas and that it attempts to minimize civilian casualties as often as possible. More than 15 months into the conflict, Hamas and Israel reached a ceasefire deal. The ceasefire saw the withdrawal of some Israeli forces to allow more aid to get in and the release of some of the hostages. However, resumption of hostilities in mid-March led to an increase in injuries, Crickx said. UNICEF estimates that more than 500 children have been killed since March 18 and more than 1.250 children have been injured. Durrani -- who worked as medical activity manager for MSF at a field hospital in Deir al Balah in central Gaza from the end of February until the end of April -- said she saw injuries caused by air strikes, fires after air strikes and from large cooking fires. "Because there's no cooking gas, people are burning household items and trying to cook over large open flames,' she said. "So, we also saw children with burns due to those flames, as well as scald burns from children who had been waiting in food distribution lines, and the jostling of the food items would then lead to them being injured from hot food." What's more, burn victims or those who are injured can take longer to heal due to malnourishment. They can also be at risk of infections or skin graft failure. Durrani explained that poor wound healing can be associated with poor nutrition, which resulted in some pediatric burn patients developing infections. "Not only was our staff hungry, but we also had no food for our patients, including our pediatric patients," Durrani said. "Other than just being harrowing from a human perspective, it's also, from a medical perspective, really impacts the way that people can heal from these injuries, and these types of burns." "Not even being clear that we will have enough antibiotics to treat the infection if the patients develop infections," she continued. "In the face of also not having enough surgical materials or concern that we may run critically low on anesthesia supplies if they need to go back to the [operating room]." In conversations with doctors this week, Crickx said hospitals are experiencing shortages of anesthetics and anticoagulants. There is also a lack of medical supplies to fix bones when they suffer fractures, he said. Durrani said her team was forced to ration medications, including painkillers, antibiotics and critical surgery supplies. They often had to perform painful procedures and wound dressing changes without any pain control. She said she didn't want to cause pain by removing dressings without proper pain control, but if the dressings aren't removed, then it could lead to infections for patients. "We're being forced to make impossible decisions like that, which is unconscionable, given that just miles away there are trucks and trucks full of food and supplies and medications and nutritional sources," she said. "For me personally, this is the first time that I had to look patients in the eye and say I didn't have something that I know is just miles away."
The Hindu
23-04-2025
- Health
- The Hindu
Dialysis patients struggle to get treatment in blockaded Gaza; officials say hundreds have died
Twice a week, Mohamed Attiya's wheelchair rattles over Gaza's scarred roads so he can visit the machine that is keeping him alive. The 54-year-old makes the journey from a temporary shelter west of Gaza City to Shifa Hospital in the city's north. There, he receives dialysis for the kidney failure he was diagnosed with nearly 15 years ago. But the treatment, limited by the war's destruction and lack of supplies, is not enough to remove all the waste products from his blood. 'It just brings you back from death,' the father of six said. Many others like him have not made it. They are some of Gaza's quieter deaths from the war, with no explosion, no debris. But the toll is striking: Over 400 patients, representing around 40% of all dialysis cases in the territory, have died during the 18-month conflict because of lack of proper treatment, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. That includes 11 patients who have died since the beginning of March, when Israel sealed the territory's 2 million Palestinians off from all imports, including food, medical supplies and fuel. Israeli officials say the aim is to pressure Hamas to release more hostages after Israel ended their ceasefire. Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli military body in charge of coordinating aid, declined to comment on the current blockade. It has said in the past that all medical aid is approved for entry when the crossings are open, and that around 45,400 tonnes of medical equipment have entered Gaza since the start of the war. Hardships mount for Gaza patients Mr. Attiya said he needs at least three dialysis sessions every week, at least four hours each time. Now, his two sessions last two or three hours at most. Israel's blockade, and its numerous evacuation orders across much of the territory, have challenged his ability to reach regular care. He has been displaced at least six times since fleeing his home near the northern town of Beit Hanoun in the first weeks of the war. He first stayed in Rafah in the south, then the central city of Deir al-Balah. When the latest ceasefire took effect in January, he moved again to another school in western Gaza City. Until recently, Mr. Attiya walked to the hospital for dialysis. But he says the limited treatment, and soaring prices for the mineral water he should be drinking, have left him in a wheelchair. His family wheels him through a Gaza that many find difficult to recognise. Much of the territory has been destroyed. 'There is no transportation. Streets are damaged,' Mr. Attiya said. 'Life is difficult and expensive.' He said he now has hallucinations because of the high levels of toxins in his blood. 'The occupation does not care about the suffering or the sick,' he said, referring to Israel and its soldiers. A health system gutted by war Six of the seven dialysis centres in Gaza have been destroyed during the war, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said earlier this year, citing the territory's Health Ministry. The territory had 182 dialysis machines before the war and now has 102. Twenty-seven of them are in northern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people rushed home during the two-month ceasefire. 'These equipment shortages are exacerbated by zero stock levels of kidney medications,' the WHO said. Israel has raided hospitals on several occasions during the war, accusing Hamas of using them for military purposes. Hospital staff deny the allegations and say the raids have gutted the territory's health care system as it struggles to cope with mass casualties from the war. The Health Ministry says over 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israel's offensive, without saying how many were civilians or combatants. Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 in the October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war. Officials say hundreds of patients have died At Shifa Hospital, the head of the nephrology and dialysis department, Dr. Ghazi al-Yazigi, said at least 417 patients with kidney failure have died in Gaza during the war because of lack of proper treatment. That's from among the 1,100 patients when the war began. Like Mr. Attiya, hundreds of dialysis patients across Gaza are now forced to settle for fewer and shorter sessions each week. 'This leads to complications such as increased levels of toxins and fluid accumulation… which could lead to death,' Mr. al-Yazigi said. Mohamed Kamel of Gaza City is a new dialysis patient at the hospital after being diagnosed with kidney failure during the war and beginning treatment this year. These days, 'I feel no improvement after each session,' he said during one of his weekly visits. The father of six children said he no longer has access to filtered water to drink, and even basic running water is scarce. Israel last month cut off the electricity supply to Gaza, affecting a desalination plant producing drinking water for part of the arid territory. Mr. Kamel said he has missed many dialysis sessions. Last year, while sheltering in central Gaza, he missed one because of an Israeli bombing in the area. His condition deteriorated, and the next day he was taken by ambulance to Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital. 'The displacement has had consequences,' Mr. Kamel said. 'I am tired.'
