The latest child to starve to death in Gaza weighed less than when she was born
KHAN YOUNIS Gaza Strip AP 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 months of war and Israeli restrictions on aid The baby was brought to the pediatric department of Nasser Hospital on Friday She was already dead A worker at the morgue rigorously 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 kilograms pounds when she was born her mother disclosed When she died she weighed less than kilograms pounds A clinician explained it was a incident of severe severe starvation 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 She needed special formula Zainab was one of children to die of malnutrition-related causes in Gaza in the past three weeks according to the latest toll circulated by the territory s Wellbeing Ministry on Saturday Another adults died of malnutrition-related causes in the same period it announced She needed a special baby formula which did not exist in Gaza Zainab s father Ahmed Abu Halib described The Associated Press 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 pediatric department declared the girl had needed a special type of formula that helps with babies allergic to cow s milk He revealed she hadn t suffered from any diseases but the lack of the formula led to chronic diarrhea and vomiting She wasn t able to swallow as her weakened immune system led to a bacterial infection and sepsis and hastily lost more weight Countless will follow The child s family like several of Gaza s Palestinians lives in a tent displaced Her mother who also has suffered from malnutrition mentioned she breastfed the girl for only six weeks before trying to feed her formula With my daughter s death multiple will follow she disclosed Their names are on a list that no one looks at They are just names and numbers We are just numbers Our children whom we carried for nine months and then gave birth to have become just numbers Her loose robe hid her own weight loss The arrival of children suffering from malnutrition has surged in latest weeks al-Farah disclosed His department with a quota of eight beds has been treating about cases of acute malnutrition They have placed additional mattresses on the ground Another malnutrition clinic affiliated with the hospital receives an average of cases weekly he explained Unless the crossings are opened and food and baby formula are allowed in for this vulnerable segment of Palestinian society we will witness unprecedented numbers of deaths he warned Doctors and aid workers in Gaza blame Israel s restrictions on the entry of aid and clinical supplies Food safeguard experts warn of famine in the territory of over million people Shortage of everything After ending the latest ceasefire in March Israel cut off the entry of food medicine fuel and other supplies fully to Gaza for months saying it aimed to pressure Hamas to release hostages Under international pressure Israel slightly eased the blockade in May Since then it has allowed in around trucks for the U N and other aid groups to distribute including tons of baby food and high-calorie special food for children Israel s Foreign Ministry noted last week Israel says baby formula has been included plus formula for special necessities The average of trucks a day however is far below the to 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 and gangs take the bulk of it from its arriving trucks Separately Israel has backed the U S -registered Gaza Humanitarian Foundation which in May opened four centers distributing boxes of food supplies More than Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since May while trying to get food mostly near those new aid sites the U N human rights office says Much of Gaza s population now relies on aid There was a shortage of everything the mother of Zainab announced as she grieved How can a girl like her recover Magdy stated from Cairo Follow AP s war coverage at https apnews com hub israel-hamas-war Source
