Constant bombings, siege and obstruction of humanitarian aid. It is the critical situation that denounces Save the Children . According to a new analysis by the organizationin six months of conflict between Israel and Hamasthere have been at least 435 attacks against health facilities or personnelin all Loop, which is equivalent to 73 attacks per month; a figure that exceeds the number of attacks per month in all other war-torn countries since 2018, including Ukraine which has the second highest number with 67 attacks per month.

Attacks on healthcare in the Occupied Palestinian Territory have not been limited to Gaza, but also in West Bank. These include 302 obstructions to health access and the use of force within health facilities.

“Six months of constant bombing, siege and obstruction of aid deliveries have annihilated the health system in Gaza. Only eleven of the 36 hospitals are partially functioning,” the NGO denounces; while adding that some 350,000 people suffer from chronic diseases in Gaza and cannot access vital medicines and supplies.

“We have recently seen an influx of children from other hospitals with injuries and missing limbs, often needing skin grafts and multiple operations, but even getting things as simple as a strong painkiller is a big challenge,” he explained. Becky Platt, pediatric nurse of the field hospital where Save the Children operates in Rafá.

The nurse has reported that they are forced to subject children to interventions “with less painkillers than we would normally use”, which causes “great anguish and also long-term psychological damage.” “The boys and girls are psychologically destroyed by everything that has happened,” she said.

Acute respiratory infections, malnutrition, scabies…

Simon Struthers, pediatrician at the Rafá field hospitalhas seen acute respiratory infections, cases of malnutrition, scabies, hepatitis A. “I have seen more jaundice in the last two weeks than in my entire career. We treat many children with acute gastroenteritis, which is spread through the fecal route. Wash your hands would reduce it, but now everyone is displaced, living in tents and, unfortunately, overcrowding and lack of sanitation or clean water increase the risks,” he explained.

Likewise, he has pointed out that the lack of medicines make the treatment of simple diseases difficult and he recalled that chronic pediatric problems “are extremely difficult”, such as cerebral palsy or “similar diseases that cannot be treated”. “Everything is on pause, including standard operations,” she denounced.

The director of Save the Children for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Xavier Jouberthas insisted that attacks on health services are “simply unjustifiable and must stop”, while emphasizing that “after six months of unimaginable horror, Gaza’s health system has been brought to its knees.”

“Healthcare workers risk their lives every day to give Palestinian children a chance to survive. (…) Palestinian children must have unimpeded access to services, including health care and education,” he concluded. Joubert.