In a makeshift tent sheltering the displaced Al-Motawwaq family in western Gaza City, one-and-a-half-year-old Mohammad Zakariya Ayyoublies motionless on a worn-out mattress. His frail body is a stark testament to the Israeli siege depriving Gaza’s 2.4 million residents of basic needs, including food and medicine, said an Anadolu report.Images of Mohammad, a toddler whose body has withered to skin and bones, have confronted the world with the grim reality of Israel’s starvation policy in Gaza.
Several Israeli accounts shared Mohammad’s photos in recent days, claiming that his medical condition caused him severe weight loss, not Israel’s starvation policy in Gaza.
However, Suzan Marouf, a clinical nutrition specialist at the Patient Friend’s Hospital, confirmed that Mohammad’s health deteriorated due to severe malnutrition that resulted from the ongoing Israeli siege.
Israel has maintained a blockade on Gaza for 18 years, and since March 2 has sealed all border crossings, blocking the entry of humanitarian aid and worsening already dire conditions in the enclave.
When Mohammad’s family brought him to the hospital a month ago, doctors diagnosed him with moderate malnutrition on top of congenital health problems, including brain complications and muscle atrophy.
Like many other hospitals in Gaza, Patient Friend’s now lacks supplements, baby formula, and even patient beds, forcing two children to share one bed.