Since the start of the war, 150 children have died from acute malnutrition in the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian health authorities.
Unicef Communication director Tess Ingram announced Jana’s death in an online video message, stating she had been treated twice at the hospital and recovered before succumbing on September 17 amid continuous Israeli aid restrictions.
“The world has failed Jana so many times, especially on food, twice,” Ms. Ingram insisted. “A little girl forced to endure so much pain due to deliberate decisions to restrict food entry into the Gaza Strip.”
Ms. Ingram explained that UNICEF originally evacuated Jana for treatment in southern Gaza over a year ago, and she had recovered. “I remember holding her fragile little hand and helping her in the ambulance,” she recalled.
Once Jana was better and released from the hospital earlier this year, she and her mother, Nesma, returned to Northern Gaza during the ceasefire.
However, hunger returned, claiming the life of Jana’s two-year-old sister, Jouri, in August. At the time, Ms. Ingram warned that Jana was “barely hanging” in a Gaza City hospital receiving treatment.
She pointed out that the Gaza War had broken the health system, unable to offer Jana the care she needed. “Her last hope, medical evacuation from Gaza, failed her. No country intervened,” said the UNICEF worker.
Gazan children suffering from moderate and severe acute malnutrition receive ready-to-use therapeutic foods at the enclave’s remaining hospitals, including where Jana was treated.
The United Nations World Health Organization warned that four hospitals were forced to close in the north of the war-torn enclave recently.
There are only 14 hospitals left in Gaza, according to the United Nations Health Agency, and humanitarian workers warn they are overwhelmed by trauma and fighting.
UNICEF emphasized that Jana and Jouri’s story is a “devastating reminder that children’s lives in Gaza are endangered not only by airstrikes but also by living conditions.”
Gaza’s malnutrition crisis has reached catastrophic levels, with over 320,000 children under five at risk of acute malnutrition.
In July, 13,000 children suffered severely from malnutrition, “the highest monthly figure ever recorded,” representing more than a 500% increase since the year’s start, UNICEF reported.
“This war must end now. Aid, including food and nutritional supplies, should be allowed into the Gaza strip. Humanitarian workers must be allowed to do their job,” said Ms. Ingram. “The children of Gaza are punished by these decisions.”
Medical evacuations (Medevacs) in the coordinated band follow a seven-stage protocol, from the initial patient referral by a doctor to the United Nations Health Agency evacuation, approved by the Israeli authorities.
The latest Omevac data indicates that since October 7, 2023, 7,841 patients were helped to leave Gaza after Hamas-led terrorist attacks against Israel. More than 5,330 of these patients were children. About 15,600 patients still need medical evacuation from Gaza.
On September 29, 14 patients and 38 companions were evacuated from Gaza to Jordan, and 15 patients and 65 companions to Italy.
“Patients, companions, and caregivers will start from here with ambulances, buses, and escorts from WHO, passing safely through combat areas at Kerem Shalom,” said Dr. Athanasios Gargavanis, trauma surgery head in Gaza.
He explained that from Kerem Shalom, Palestinians leave the strip before being transported to Ramon airport in southern Israel and then to host countries.
“This is only the tip of the iceberg,” Dr. Gargavanis warned. “Many more Medevac missions are needed, and many receiving countries are necessary. The World Health Organization is committed to supporting such missions.”
WHO continues to call for the restoration of medical references to the West Bank and East Jerusalem and for more countries to accept patients.
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