Samar Abu Ajwah held her frail newborn baby in a crowded clinic in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza as he burst into swollen sobs.
With only a weight of 1.9 kg (44.2 lbs), Eyad has been diagnosed as malnourished. He needs milk, according to Abu Ajwah, who also suffers from malnutrition as a result of Israel’s punishing blockade of humanitarian aid. “We are appealing for help from people who can afford it because we cannot,” Abu Ajwah said.
Ru’a, Ameera Tafesh’s severely ill six-month-old, was taken to the clinic by Ameera Tafesh in search of rest. She told Al Jazeera, “I breastfed her when she was born, but it only lasted a week because I couldn’t produce enough milk.” She needs to give me her formula, but it’s not.
In the wake of Israeli-induced starvation in the enclave, mothers are desperate to find food for their children and themselves, according to Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, who is based in Nuseirat.
Israel has halted the distribution of food and other aid through the United Nations and humanitarian organizations since unilaterally striking a ceasefire in March, setting up a few aid distribution centers run by its army, supported by the US, and run by US-based GHF.
Since the Gaza Ministry of Health’s operation began in late May, more than 2,200 Palestinians have been killed and more than 16, 225 have been injured as a result of Israeli soldiers and GHF security contractors opening fire on aid seekers at the locations, according to a report from the Gaza Ministry of Health.
UN agencies have repeatedly urged Israel to be allowed to resume its own distributions and labeled the system “a abomination” and “a death trap.”
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) initiative, a global hunger monitor, confirmed this month that there is a famine in the northern and northern border of the Strip, and that it is expected to reach central and southern areas by the end of September.
Nearly 641,000 people in Gaza are expected to be in incredibly dire conditions by that time.
Newborns are at acute risk, especially women.
The IPC analysis identified a significant risk of starvation for pregnant women and newborns. According to its report, an estimated 55,500 pregnant and breastfeeding women are malnourished and require an immediate nutritional adjustment.
By June, it added that at least 132, 000 children under the age of five are in danger of dying from acute malnutrition.
124 children have died as a result of malnourishment and famine, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which includes 339 victims so far this war.
The famine in Gaza was described by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as a “man-made disaster, a moral indictment, and a failure of humanity itself.”
Israel’s death toll figures are disputed, and it does not acknowledge the widespread malnutrition of Palestinians in Gaza.
According to the UN Population Fund, mothers in Gaza are being forced to give birth while being malnourished, exhausted, and more than likely to die.
Their babies are born too small, weak, or prematurely, according to the statement. Mothers are unable to breastfeed because they are also starving, according to the organization’s statement.
No woman should be forced to give birth in a famine setting. No child should go hungry all their life. More mothers and newborns are suffering every day as a result of inaction.
Children with wasted bodies, too weak to cry or eat, babies dying from hunger and preventable diseases, parents arriving at clinics with nothing to feed their children, according to UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell’s repeated warnings.
Source: Aljazeera
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