DaysofPal- Hospitals in the Gaza Strip are facing an unprecedented collapse as famine worsens, with corridors, reception areas, and even floors turning into treatment spaces for the overwhelming number of wounded and sick.
Alcock, a representative of Medical Aid for Palestinians, said hospitals in Gaza had reached a “breaking point,” stressing that newborns and infants are among the most affected.
She added: “The stark difference really is the number of children clinging to life on the very edge due to malnutrition. Some are even born with complications because pregnant women have been deprived of proper nutrition and supplements during pregnancy.”
She explained that neonatal and pediatric intensive care units are dangerously overcrowded with children suffering from life-threatening severe malnutrition, leaving hospitals with no space to treat patients suffering serious injuries from shelling, gunfire, and drone attacks.
She also described the situation: “Emergency departments are so overcrowded that people are treated on the floor. Sometimes, a malnourished child lies on a bed while three other injured children are on the ground beside him, and often a dead body lies nearby because morgues are full.”
Doctors confirm that severe malnutrition among children has reached record levels, with alarming symptoms such as muscle wasting, swollen stomachs, hair loss, and rickets.
Pregnant women are also suffering from anemia and malnutrition, leading to rising cases of premature births and babies born severely underweight.
Moreover, infants who survive birth face an immediate risk of death due to lack of food and medical formula.
These testimonies follow the announcement by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) initiative, supported by the United Nations, that famine has officially been declared in Gaza. According to the IPC, more than half a million people are currently living in famine conditions, while millions of others face acute food insecurity.
The initiative described the situation as the worst famine scenario the world has seen in this century.
With Israeli shelling and attacks continuing, doctors are forced to make heartbreaking decisions about who receives treatment first and who is left untreated due to the lack of resources.
With morgues overflowing, medical staff are sometimes forced to place bodies next to living patients.
Humanitarian testimonies also reveal that some children die before even reaching hospitals, as families are unable to get there in time because of fuel shortages, long distances, and siege restrictions.
Furthermore, doctors warn that an entire generation is at risk of permanent disability due to the physical and cognitive damage caused by malnutrition.
International organizations have warned that continued Israeli restrictions on aid deliveries could lead to mass deaths in the coming months in what is already considered one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes in the world today.
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