Mothers yearn for milk to feed their newborn babies
Riham Al Balbasi has two modest wishes for her baby daughter – safety and access to milk.
Ms Al Balbasi, 22, who lives in the Jabalia Camp in the northern Gaza Strip, has faced immense difficulties in providing for three-month-old Soha, during the continuing conflict.
Many mothers are unable to breastfeed their newborn babies due to insufficient nutrition, which hinders their bodies’ ability to produce milk.
“My milk supply is insufficient because I can’t nourish myself properly,” said Ms Al Balbasi. “I’m well aware of the advice given to mothers about the need for a nutritious diet to breastfeed. I yearn for my child to receive natural milk, but I feel utterly powerless,” she said. Doctors have told her that her baby is suffering from malnutrition, causing it to cry repeatedly from hunger.
“I cannot eat well, nor can my child,” she said.
The babies are part of a generation of Gazans born into homeless, destitute families struggling to survive Israel’s ferocious military assault on their crowded strip of land.
The enclave’s 2.3 million residents lack access to food, water, adequate shelter and basic supplies to survive the war.
Baby formula, an alternative to breast milk, is not available in markets, let alone supplementary baby food, she said.
The World Food Programme reported that humanitarian organisations have been unable to deliver aid to the northern region for more than a month. This is due to stringent Israeli
Humanitarian organisations have been unable to deliver aid to the northern region for more than a month
inspections of every lorry at the Egyptian border and obstruction by extremist Israeli protesters at the Israeli border with Gaza, effectively blocking aid entry.
“We receive many cases of children with very clear signs of dehydration and malnutrition, and some of them stay for hours before succumbing and becoming martyrs,” Dr Hussam Abu Safia, the director of Kamal Aidwan Hospital in the Jabalia Camp, told The National.
He said that dehydration has affected most citizens in northern Gaza in recent weeks because of malnutrition, and they are suffering from weakness and significant weight loss.
“There are many children who arrive at the hospital showing signs of pallor, yellowing of the skin, general weakness and emaciation due to malnutrition,” he said.
“The lack of available infant formula exacerbates the suffering, especially for newborns, due to the shortage of milk from mothers who are completely deprived of nutrition,” he said.
Amira Abu Nada, a nurse, said cases of fainting and overwhelming weakness are a daily occurrence. “Our capacity to take care of them is hindered by a lack of supplies, particularly nutritional supplements that could mitigate their hunger.”