In a tent lacking even the most basic necessities, Umm Muhammad Abu al-Kas, a grandmother from Gaza City, stands helpless before her grandchildren, whose cries are not only from hunger but also from the sores covering their small bodies. These sores are a result of using rags and plastic bags as makeshift diapers, the price of which has become unaffordable for displaced families.
While the child’s mother is busy soothing her infant, the grandmother, who lives with her family in a tattered tent, says, “My grandchildren don’t sleep at night from crying. The price of diapers is unimaginable. We can’t afford to buy a single one. Before the war, a pack cost no more than 20 shekels (1 dollar = 3 shekels). Today, it costs over 150 shekels, and the price keeps rising. This is a huge amount for a family with no income in Gaza.”
The grandmother asks, “How can a child who is only a few days old sleep without the basic necessities?” She adds, “The child doesn’t sleep at night and cries because of extreme hunger, as he has no milk. The price of the can has also increased, and chafing from using the fabric has become visible on his small body.”
Dr. Ghassan Matar, a physician with the Haider Abdel Shafi Community Association, says there has been a “terrifying deterioration” in the health of Gaza’s children. For example, the rate of anemia has jumped from 10% before the war to nearly 70% currently.
Matar attributes this rise to severe malnutrition and the collapsed economy, which has left families unable to afford even the most basic necessities.
The suffering of Gaza’s children is not limited to the killing of more than 20,000 of them during the war of annihilation in the past two years; it extends to the bodies of those who remain.
Matar confirms the emergence of new and complex skin diseases that are ravaging the bodies of young children, resulting from the lack of personal hygiene and the exorbitant prices of diapers, wipes, and baby care products, which are now sold individually at astronomical prices.
He said, “The child in Gaza is trapped between empty stomachs lacking iron and vitamins, and skin diseases due to the absence of healthy alternatives, which portends a long-term health catastrophe from which the bodies of this generation may not recover for years to come.”
