Skin diseases afflict Gaza's children amid Israel's genocidal war

Like thousands of Gaza children, Yasmine al-Shanbari, 3, is not only suffering from the upheaval of Israel's genocidal war all around them. She is ravaged by skin disease, and no relief is in sight, with medicine scarce and few hospitals functioning due to the Israeli invasion and siege.

The 10-month-old genocidal war has left the blockaded enclave with no clean running water, a shortage of aid and medicine and raw sewage everywhere, giving rise to skin diseases and other afflictions.

Red scratchy patches have spread all over Yasmine's face, and her father feels helpless as she sits in his lap in a burnt-out, crowded school where they have taken shelter in the Jabalia urban camp in north Gaza.

Tiny little insects were visibly flitting around her face, while piles of garbage rotted in the high summer heat outside.

"The disease she has on her face has been there for almost 10 days now and hasn't gone away," said her father, Ahmed al-Shanbari. "We did not leave out any medicine to give to her, hoping it would clear up from her face."

Skin diseases are not the only illnesses that are creeping into one of the most densely populated places on earth.

"Yesterday, we were talking about hepatitis, and today, we are talking about contagious skin diseases. Every day, there are new diseases spreading among children," said Doctor Wissam al-Sakani, spokesperson for Kamal Adwan Hospital.

'The situation is indescribable'

The World Health Organisation has sounded the alarm that Hepatitis A and polio are also spreading among children.

"UN agencies warned of the high risk of the further spread of infectious diseases in Gaza, amid chronic water scarcity and no way to adequately manage waste and sewage," it said in a report earlier this month.

"The waste management system in Gaza has collapsed. Piles of trash are accumulating in the scorching summer heat. Sewage discharges on the streets while people queue for hours just to go to the toilets."

Israel denies responsibility for delays in getting urgent humanitarian aid into Gaza, says the UN and others are responsible for its distribution once inside the enclave.

Ammar al-Mashharawi, a 2-year-old toddler, also has a fiery red rash all over his face and body in Kamal Adwan Hospital, which was struck by Israeli missiles in May.

"Look at the child, his whole body is like this. We have been to more than one hospital to find medicine for him," said Ammar's father, Ahmed, as he held his wailing son while medical staff checked him.

"We adults manage somehow, but the children, God help them, have no food or medicine. The situation is indescribable," Ahmed added.

Gaza death toll

Israel has reduced most of Gaza to ruins, causing major shortage of basic necessities, including water, food, medicine and electricity, which also exacerbated the spread of diseases in the blockaded enclave.

Tel Aviv has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded over 92,000 others. Thousands have perished under the debris of bombed homes while some 10,000 Palestinians have been abducted by Israeli troops.

But these are conservative estimates.

About 45 American physicians, surgeons and nurses, who have volunteered in Gaza since last October, say the likely death toll from Israel's genocidal war is "already greater than 92,000".

According to a study published in the journal Lancet, the accumulative effects of Israel's war on Gaza could mean the true death toll could reach more than 186,000 people.