Patients who burn severe healing are faced with a lack of drugs in light of the Israeli blockade in Gaza

Hamza Abu Shabab was pain when his mother pulled his shirt and relieved his head as a bowl on his pillow so that she could apply an ointment on his small burning body.

The player, seven years old, suffered from third -class burns on his head, neck and shoulders when he was afraid of an Israeli air strike, he made a hot plate of rice and lentils on himself in his family tent in southern Gaza last month.

His recovery has been slowed by the Israeli siege, now in the third month, which prohibits all medicines, food, fuel and other commodities from entering Gaza. His mother, Iman Abu Shabab, said that his burning was infected – that the boy’s immune system weakens due to poor nutrition and that antibiotics supplies are limited.

“If there was no siege or a different country, he would have been treated and treated his wounds,” she said in her son’s bed at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis.

The Israeli siege, which has been imposed since March 2, forced hospitals and clinics throughout Gaza to extend limited drug stocks, even with increased needs. For burning patients, the deficiency of supplies is especially painful.

Julie Fukon, the medical competition in Gaza and the occupied Western guarantee with doctors without borders, said burns are painful and infection, but hospitals, including Nasser, are short in pain relievers, anesthesia, bandages and hygiene materials.

Burning increasing cases

Since Israel resumed the bombing throughout Gaza in mid -March, the number of patients suffering from burns related to strike in Nasser Hospital increased five times, from five per day to 20, according to doctors without borders, which supports the facility. Fukon said the burns are also larger, covering up to 40 percent of people’s bodies.

She said that some patients have died because burns affected their airflows and breathing, or because they developed severe infections.

While strikes are a major cause of burns, people are also looking for an accident treatment, such as hot fluid leakage. This is partially due to the dull living conditions, as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced in tents and crowded shelters pressed, and often cook on wood fires.

Hamza was one of more than 70 patients in Nasser Hospital and Orthopedic Hospital – as much as he could carry – with more flow to obtain daily care.

His mother said that Hamza underwent surgeries, including four on his face. She said that the hospital has run out of liquid pain relievers used for children, and it is struggling to swallow the largest birth control pills.

Lack of food also slows down healing

In another room, Layan Ibrahim Sahel, four -year -old, sits desperate between her dolls, with second -degree burns on her face, old and stomach. A week ago, she killed a blow to her home in Khan Yunis, her pregnant mother and her brothers, and buried her under the rubble.

Her aunt, Raja Sahel, said that Layan is having difficulty moving and she was in a state of pulling while she was in a state of persistent fear. She also suffers from malnutrition.

Her aunt said: “I am afraid that it will take her months instead of weeks to recover.”

The number of children with malnutrition has swollen as Israel’s ban on food to Gaza, with relief groups warning that people are starving. Without proper nutrition, patient recovery slows down and their bodies cannot fight infection, as health professionals say.

At the meeting of the security cabinet in Netanyahu this week, which decided to expand operations in Gaza, the ministers were told that “at this stage, there is enough food in Gaza”, without explaining, according to two Israeli officials, provided that his identity is not disclosed to discuss the meeting.

Israel says that the renewed blockade and renewed military campaign aims to pressure Hamas to issue 59 hostages that remain of them and to communicate with Israel’s demands that it disarm. Rights groups said the siege is a “hunger policy” and a possible war crime.

The United Nations has warned that the Gaza healthcare system is on the brink of collapse, which was overwhelmed by losses with basic medicines.

Life in tents brings suffering

Doctors say they are also concerned about the possibilities of long -term care for burning patients. Many people need restorative surgery, but few plastic surgeons remain in Gaza. Relief workers say that Israel has increasingly refused to enter the international medical staff in recent weeks, although some are still arriving.

At the end of April, 10 -year -old Mira Khazindar was burned on her arms and chest when she hit a blow near her tent. Worried that she will get permanent scars, her mother’s combs that are looking for ointments.

Hanin Khazindar said that Mira was able to return to the family tent to recover, but she suffers from sand and mosquitoes there. She must go regularly to the hospital, which risks the difficulty of her burns, causes her pain, and standing in the sun while waiting for transportation.

“She is recovering slowly, because there is no treatment, medications, or food,” she said. “It is tired, you cannot sleep all night because of the pain – even after I give it a medicine, it does not help.”