Dokument #2142042
MSF – Médecins Sans Frontières (Autor)
MSF teams have treated thousands of cases of respiratory infections, gastroenteritis, and skin infections among children this year.
"My baby had severe diarrhea for days, but I could not find clean water or medicine,” says Lobna, a mother in Gaza. “We were afraid of dehydration but had no means to prevent it.”
Children like Lobna’s have been facing a severe deterioration in health and well-being since October 2023, driven by the state of Israel's genocide, including its destruction of the health system and worsening living and water and sanitation conditions. Children make up roughly half the population of Gaza.
At clinics and hospitals Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) runs or supports, our teams see the results every day. We are treating tens of thousands of children with respiratory and skin infections, gastroenteritis, and diarrhea. Just between January and April this year, MSF teams working across two dozen health facilities in the Gaza Strip carried out 86,000 medical consultations for children under 15 and hospitalized 4,860 others — approximately 25 percent and 34 percent of all our patients, respectively.
Newborns and young infants remain among the most vulnerable in Gaza. Between September 2025 and March 2026, a total of 112 neonatal deaths (children under 1 month old) were recorded at Al-Helou and Nasser hospitals, which MSF supports. The leading causes of death were respiratory distress, followed by sepsis.
At MSF’s pediatric field hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, infants aged 1-12 months now represent 58 percent of all pediatric hospital admissions — twice as much as in several other crises to which MSF responds globally. Infants are disproportionately affected by diarrheal disease and other infections; their immune systems are still developing, and they cannot fight off infections the way older children or adults can.
"Routine immunization programs have been disrupted many times, leaving children vulnerable," says Anas Masadeh, MSF medical coordinator for Gaza. "When infants have diarrhea, their body loses more water, blood volume drops, and the heart cannot pump enough blood. Without treatment, a healthy infant can be at serious risk of death in a matter of days."
After almost three years of mass forced displacement and the destruction of civilian infrastructure, including water systems, Palestinians continue to live in overcrowded displacement shelters and tents without proper access to safe water, no functioning sanitation, and insufficient hygiene supplies. Infants are exposed to contaminated water every day.
Pathogens spread rapidly inside overcrowded shelters with poor ventilation — mainly makeshift tents. The poor ventilation is directly reflected in the persistently high numbers of children being admitted with acute respiratory tract infections. Out-of-control pest infestations, including of rats, are currently spreading in Gaza, worsening the risk.
MSF has treated increasing cases of rodent bites among children. We also see a high burden of infectious skin diseases, especially scabies. In the first quarter of 2026, children under 15 represented 60 percent of patients treated for skin diseases at three of our clinics. "Even when one child is treated, others get infected again because we cannot wash clothes properly or clean bedding," says Ahmed, an MSF patient.
Israeli authorities continue to restrict lifesaving medical and humanitarian aid, resulting in unhealthy and undignified living conditions that no child should ever have to endure. This is stripping Gaza's children of a healthy life, and any chance of recovery.
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