Source : NEW INDIAN EXPRESS NEWS
Layan has difficulty moving and has become withdrawn and in a constant state of fear, said her aunt, Raga Sahloul. She also suffers from malnutrition, she said.
“I am scared it will take her months instead of weeks to heal,” said her aunt.
The number of malnourished children has swelled under Israel’s ban on food to Gaza, with aid groups warning that people are starving. Without proper nutrition, patients’ recovery is slowed and their bodies can’t fight infection, say health professionals. Rights groups have said the blockade is a “starvation policy” and a potential war crime.
The United Nations has warned that Gaza’s health-care system is on the brink of collapse, overwhelmed by casualties with essential medicines running out.
Life in tents brings suffering
Doctors say they’re also worried about prospects for long term care for burn patients. Many need reconstructive surgery, but few plastic surgeons remain in Gaza. Israel has increasingly rejected entry for international medical staff in recent weeks, aid workers say, though some continue to have access.
At the end of April, 10-year-old Mira al-Khazandar was severely burned on her arms and chest when a strike hit near her tent. Worried that she will have permanent scars, her mother combs pharmacies looking for ointments for her.
Mira’s been able to return to the family’s tent to recover, but she suffers from the sand and mosquitos there, said her mother Haneen al-Khazandar. She has to go regularly to the hospital, which risks infecting her burns and causes her pain, standing under the sun waiting for transport.
“She is slowly recovering because there is no treatment and no medicines and no food,” she said. “She is tired, she can’t sleep all night because of the pain, even after I give her medicine, it doesn’t help.”
Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has so far killed at least 52,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children. Israel has also targeted and killed over a thousand healthcare workers, aid workers and more than 200 journalists.
SOURCE :- NEW INDIAN EXPRESS
