Doctors In Gaza Address The Difficulty Of Caring For Youngsters Impacted By War

Since the Israeli-Hamas conflict began, almost 14,000 Palestinian children have lost their lives. The bleeding and broken children, who showcase the horrors of war, are of greatest concern to Doctors who worked in Gaza.

“The first child I saw was a 3-year-old girl with her thigh peeled off her bone,”

Dr. Javid Abdelmoneim, a medic with Médecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders, who served  at Nasser Hospital in Gaza for two months said “The first child I saw was a 3-year-old girl with her thigh peeled off her bone, The last patient I saw that day was a girl who we had to leave for dead. She was unaccompanied. She had no family. She was breathing. She had a head injury, but the system was overwhelmed. We didn’t have enough blood, and there were no beds.”

Abdelmoneim, along with other doctors and human rights workers, shared their experiences in Gaza during a Zoom news briefing.

“We stood between bodies on the floor of children in different stages of death and dying and realized there was nothing we could do, There was only so much gauze and so many hands to place on bleeding limbs.” said Dr. Ahmad Yousaf, pediatrician from Arkansas who participated in a medical trip led by the global humanitarian organization MedGlobal, volunteering at al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza.

Following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, Israel cut off gasoline, electricity, and water supplies, prompting the doctors to travel to the Gaza Strip.

The ongoing conflict in Gaza has directly affected Gazan healthcare workers’ homes and families, leading to destruction, family deaths, and widespread illnesses due to poor sanitation and water scarcity, according to Yousaf.

More than 14,000 Palestinian children have been killed since October

Alexandra Saieh, head of humanitarian advocacy and policy at Save the Children International said  “The aid workers are also becoming sick, crippling the aid response,” 

She reported that more than 14,000 Palestinian children have been killed since October and that more than 20,000 are missing.

“This includes children who have been separated from their families and are unaccompanied, children who are trapped under the rubble and presumed dead, children who have been buried in unmarked mass graves,” she added.

Polio might be spreading undetected in Gaza

The World Health Organization has warned that polio may be spreading undetected in Gaza due to positive wastewater samples, highlighting the numerous health issues doctors face in the region.

Primary health centers are experiencing high diagnoses of water and sanitation-related diseases, including diarrhea, scabies infestation, skin and eye infections, and hepatitis A, which can be spread through contaminated water. 

Doctors are concerned about the children who will survive, as they may face long-term consequences. Doctors are concerned about the impact on children as young as 3 years old, and the future of their ability to cope due to prolonged trauma and assault on their pediatric brains.

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