Doctor treats children in tent clinics in Gaza amid war on its healthcare system

Shafaq News/ As the conflict between Israel and Gaza continues, Palestinian civilians are bearing the brunt of the trauma. Attacks on hospitals, limited humanitarian access, and blockades on vital medical supplies have significantly hindered the capacity of Gaza's healthcare facilities to provide essential treatment to those in need.

Some two million Palestinians—half of whom are children—lack access to safe water, food, and vital medical services. They face peril and disaster every day in Gaza.

Four Western doctors who visited the besieged enclave in recent months told an event at the United Nations on Monday that "the healthcare system in Gaza has essentially collapsed," speaking of "appalling atrocities" from Israel's offensive.

The Israeli offensive has displaced nearly 2.3 million people, caused a starvation crisis, flattened most of the strip, and killed over 34,000 people.

On April 2, Israeli forces left al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City after a two-week operation by its special forces, who detained hundreds of Palestinians and left a wasteland of destroyed buildings. 

A senior U.N. aid official told the Security Council on Tuesday that one-quarter of the population of Gaza is one step away from famine and widespread famine could be "almost inevitable" without action.

Amid the unrelenting Israeli bombardment of Gaza, healthcare providers had for months been working under dire conditions with minimal access to medical supplies.

In fact, some doctors have taken the extraordinary step of setting up makeshift clinics in the streets to treat patients.

The war in Gaza is a brutal equalizer, claiming lives without discrimination - men, women, and children all alike. The lives of Gazans have been irrevocably changed, and children bear the brunt of this ongoing aggression. Displacement camps and makeshift shelters overflow with children as the war grinds into its 200th day.

To mitigate their sufferings, a group of Palestinian doctors have mobilized to provide medical care specifically for children in Deir al-Balah, a district in central Gaza. These doctors have established makeshift medical tents, offering a lifeline to the most vulnerable, women and children.

One such doctor is Dr. Lobna Abdel Aziz Al-Azzaizi, a specialist in obstetrics and breastfeeding from Deir al-Balah. Previously, she served as the head of the intensive care unit at the Kamal Adwan Hospital. However, the enforced blockade severed the northern Gaza Strip from the central and southern regions, forcing Dr. Al-Azzaizi to establish a tent clinic in the courtyard of her home, which had been bombarded earlier.

Dr. Al-Azzaizi christened her makeshift clinic, "The Tent of the Child and Breastfeeding Mother's Friend." 

Established two weeks ago, the tent sees an average of 20 cases daily, with a volunteer nurse assisting her.

"The tent was set up through personal efforts to treat the children of displaced families in Deir al-Mozein," Dr. Al-Azzaizi explained to Shafaq News Agency. 

"Donations allow the tent to provide free services and examinations for those most in need. There is a nominal fee of $5 for examinations, but most patients receive treatment at no cost."

"The tent offers comprehensive checkups for newborns, including administering vitamins and other essentials," Dr. Al-Azzaizi elaborated. "However, a critical shortage of infant formula makes it tough for children whose mothers cannot breastfeed, leading to malnutrition. Among the most heart-wrenching cases we encounter are children who have lost one or both parents."

There has been growing global opposition to Israel's offensive in Gaza, which has turned vast areas of the densely populated territory into rubble and sparked a dire humanitarian crisis, including warnings of famine. 

The World Health Organization said earlier this month that al-Shifa, Gaza's largest hospital, had been reduced to ashes by an Israeli siege, leaving an "empty shell" with many bodies. 

On Sunday, Gaza's civil defense discovered 50 bodies buried in the courtyard of the Nasser Medical Complex in Gaza's central southern city of Khan Yunis.

Tlaleng Mofokeng, the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to health, accused Israel of treating human rights as an "a la carte menu."

Just days into the war that has been raging in Gaza since Hamas's unprecedented attacks on October 7, "the medical infrastructure was irreparably damaged," she told reporters in Geneva.

The expert said she had received no response from Israel to the concerns she had raised about the situation and that she had not been able to visit the Palestinian territory.

But she said it was apparent that Israel was "killing and causing irreparable harm against Palestinian civilians with its bombardments."

"They are also knowingly and intentionally imposing famine, prolonged malnutrition, and dehydration," the expert added, accusing Israel of "genocide."

The current situation in Gaza, she said, "is completely incompatible with the right to health."