After more than one year of relentless war and destruction in Gaza, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams are seeing severe health impacts for Palestinian children, newborns, and mothers. Factors driving these medical needs include repeated Israeli attacks on densely populated areas, forced displacement, poor access to food and clean water, and inadequate sanitation services.
“We are treating infants who have infectious diseases, respiratory diseases, and skin diseases far more than before—and the figures continue to rise,” said Dr. Mohammad Abu Tayyem, an MSF pediatrician working at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, where over 300 pediatric patients are treated every day. “The pediatric department is overcrowded with sick children, including those with acute pneumonia.”
MSF teams are seeing an overwhelming number of patients at Nasser Hospital, which was one of Gaza’s largest hospitals before the war escalated last October. Between June and October, 3,421 babies and children under 5 years old were treated by MSF at the inpatient pediatric ward there, with 22 percent related to diarrhea and 8.9 percent to meningitis. During the same period, 168 newborn babies less than 1 month old and more than 10,800 children between 1 and 5 years old received consultations in the emergency room of Nasser Hospital for upper respiratory tract infections. Additionally, approximately 1,294 children between 1 and 5 years old were admitted in Nasser for lower respiratory tract infections, with around 459 pneumonia cases.
Relentless war has destroyed the health system and people’s ability to access care
In the designated so-called “humanitarian zone” where displaced people live in cramped conditions where diseases can spread rapidly, MSF provides neonatal, obstetric, and pediatric care at three primary health care clinics (PHCCs) and in Nasser Hospital, which currently has one of the sole functional maternity wards in the south of Gaza. Of the 36 hospitals in Gaza, only 17 remain partially functional as of November 19, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Mothers in Gaza are faced with risks when bringing their newborns and children to the few hospitals and health centers that are still open and providing services. They often must travel long distances on unsafe routes on foot or by animal cart, in dusty and densely populated areas, to reach medical facilities. This journey exposes children and newborns to more danger of being attacked and puts them at high risk of health complications, especially as winter approaches. Even after receiving treatment, newborns and children return to unsanitary living conditions, which can lead to a deterioration of their health conditions and prevent them from healing properly.
Faced with inadequate living conditions, a shortage of hygiene products and food, and the fact they’re living in a state of constant stress, a significant number of pregnant people—many of themselves malnourished—give birth to premature babies and face increased risk of postpartum complications.
This crisis is further worsened by the acute shortage of essential medical and non-medical supplies to treat these types of complications in the health facilities and hospitals. Israel's blockade on Gaza has left hospitals and health care facilities across the Strip without proper supplies and medicines like paracetamol and antibiotics. As the occupying power, Israeli authorities are responsible for ensuring rapid, unimpeded, and safe humanitarian aid at the level sufficient to address people’s needs.
As colder temperatures set in, people’s basic needs are not being met
Families are living in crowded tents or under plastic sheeting and patched fabrics, with lack of access to clean water, sanitation, hygiene items like soap, and other necessities. Falling temperatures and the onset of winter further erode conditions of life and increase the risk of diseases such as skin and respiratory infections, scabies, acute diarrhea, and viral infections, especially among newborns and children.
“I have no diapers for my son,” says Yasmin, a mother whose son is being treated in Nasser Hospital. “I do not even have suitable clothing for him; I must use a plastic bag, and this exposes his skin to more infections and rashes. Living in a tent is exposing my children to extreme conditions, and they are sleeping without even a proper bed. My son is always coughing. I spend most of my time in the hospital. The doctor says we must keep him away from smoke [to help prevent the coughing], but how could we? Everything has to be cooked on a fire.”
The rise in prices due to the drastic reduction in aid entering the Gaza Strip means that people are not able to afford enough nutritious food, leading to malnutrition especially in infants and children. Despite repeated and continued warnings from humanitarian organizations working in Gaza, humanitarian aid into Gaza is still being limited. Food and medical supplies are desperately needed, especially for infants and children.
“This period has been very difficult and long,” says Dr. Abu Tayyem. “It has been over a year now since the beginning of the war, and it has affected everyone greatly, especially the children who are in the growth stage. This has been due to the lack of nutritious food and essential nutrients, which has impacts on the health of infants and children, affecting their immune systems and making them more vulnerable to infectious diseases.”
Gazans need unhindered access to health care and humanitarian aid
To respond to ever-increasing medical needs, in Khan Younis, MSF teams support the pediatric department at Nasser Hospital, including the emergency room, pediatric intensive care unit with nine beds, and the newborn intensive care unit with 23 beds.
MSF’s activities in pediatric, neonatal, and obstetric care are just a drop in the ocean of medical needs in Gaza. An immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza is the only solution to ease the suffering of the Gazan population and guarantee access to health care and humanitarian aid.
