Inside, I was met with a sea of patients, health care workers and the displaced. These children, Gaza’s youngest — as well as those in utero — are especially vulnerable to the burgeoning crisis of malnutrition and the prospect of starvation. These conditions, when combined with displacement and overcrowding in shelters, can quickly lead to disease outbreaks that threaten everyone, especially malnourished children. And without clean water, health care facilities cannot provide effective treatment to those in need, nor can they maintain basic infection prevention and control measures. Gaza’s children have endured far too much death and suffering already.

---

Persons: Wahida, Khan Younis, Balah Organizations: Nasser Hospital, United Nations, Hamas Locations: Afghanistan, Gaza, Khan, Deir al