Gaza doctor warns of deadly meningitis surge amid healthcare collapse
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The head of the Pediatric Department at Al-Rantisi Hospital in Gaza describes a horrific health situation in Gaza that is only getting worse by the day.
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A nurse feeds a prematurely born baby lying in an incubator at the neonatal intensive care unit of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, June 19, 2025 (AP)
Palestinian children in Gaza are dying from hunger and malnutrition, revealed the head of the Pediatric Department at Al-Rantisi Hospital, Dr. Sharif Matar, noting that families are bringing their children to the hospital due to the lack of milk.
Speaking to Al Mayadeen about the dire state of the health system in Gaza amid the ongoing genocide war, Dr. Matar emphasized the lack of any means to combat or contain the spread of epidemics. He announced recording numerous cases of meningitis, amid a collapsed health sector and healthcare systems, the contamination of water networks, and a lack of fuel.
The Gaza pediatrician told Al Mayadeen that the health conditions in Gaza are worsening, describing them as "catastrophic and far more miserable than anyone can imagine," lamenting how “apparently, no one in the world cares anymore.”
Healthcare in the time of genocide. Inside "Israel's" systematic assault on #Gaza's health workers and facilities in numbers. pic.twitter.com/m9XyG7yprT
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) May 7, 2025
Ending war only solution
He underscored that the only solution is to end the war, as people in Gaza are risking their lives for a loaf of bread, coming under direct Israeli fire as they wait for aid.
Through Al Mayadeen, Dr. Matar called on the United Nations to fulfill its responsibilities regarding the ongoing bloodshed in Gaza.
In this context, Hamas warned that the increasing rate of meningitis among children, as hundreds of cases are recorded in the strip, signals a looming catastrophe threatening Gaza’s children.
The #Palestinian Ministry of Health in #Gaza has issued an urgent appeal to replenish medicine stocks in hospitals and primary care centers, warning that #Gaza's healthcare system is on the brink of collapse.
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) April 11, 2025
According to the ministry, 37% of essential medicines and 59% of… pic.twitter.com/FBBUJxZbLS
In a statement, the movement called on the international community, the United Nations, and its agencies, especially the World Health Organization, to “intervene immediately to save the children of Gaza.”
Humanitarian conditions in Gaza continue to deteriorate amid ongoing Israeli aggression and blockade. The World Health Organization announced earlier that 112 children are admitted to Gaza hospitals daily due to malnutrition.
Rising death toll
This situation unravels amid a mounting death toll in the Strip amid relentless daily Israeli airstrikes and massacres in the region.
Gaza hospitals received 116 martyrs, four of whom were recovered from under the rubble, and 463 injured victims in 24 hours, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health's report published on Tuesday.
With this, the death toll of the brutal Israeli war on Gaza rises to 56,657 martyrs and 134,105 injured since the launch of the war on October 7, while the total number of casualties since March 18, 2025, has reached 6,315 martyrs and 22,064 injuries
In addition, the Ministry of Health detailed that 600 Palestinians were martyred and over 4,278 were wounded while seeking aid since the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation started operating in the Strip.
112 Palestinian children hospitalized every day: WHO
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 112 Palestinian children are being hospitalized every single day due to severe malnutrition, an outcome directly tied to "Israel's" siege and military onslaught. WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the situation as having "surpassed catastrophic levels."
Gaza's hospitals, once the last line of defense against death by starvation, are now barely functional. Only 17 out of 36 medical facilities remain partially operational, and none are functioning at all in northern Gaza or in Rafah, two areas subjected to relentless Israeli bombing and forced displacement.
Dr. Tedros revealed that "at least 500 people have been killed while trying to access food at aid distribution points controlled by the US and Israel, which operate outside the United Nations system." He also stated that WHO had only limited access to Gaza this week, the first time since March, underscoring the systematic obstruction of humanitarian relief.
Infanticide in the making
On Thursday, two more Palestinian infants died due to malnutrition in Khan Younis after being denied baby formula and basic medical care. The children's families held funeral prayers after their bodies were transferred from Nasser Hospital.
Speaking to reporters, Mahmoud Sharab, the uncle of five-month-old Nidal, confirmed that "lack of food and the absence of baby formula" killed his nephew. He warned that other infants in the hospital remain at risk unless they receive therapeutic milk and urgent nutritional aid. Mohammed al-Hams, father of 10-day-old Kinda, said his daughter died "due to malnutrition and lack of medicine."
In a post published on social media platform X, Director General of Gaza's Ministry of Health, Muneer Alboursh, shared the story of three-month-old Jouri Mohsen Ismail al-Masri, who died that morning in the pediatric ward of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. "Jouri carried no weapon… She only cried from hunger," he wrote. "But she found no milk to ease her pain, nor arms to protect her innocence." Her death, he noted, marked the 66th child to die from malnutrition in Gaza since the war began. "Sixty-six little angels lost — not to bombs, but to silence, to starvation."
Read more: Reproductive violence used as genocide tool in Gaza: UN
