BBC with babies in Gaza: They live among the dead, hunger has exhausted them

By Fergal Keane – BBC 

There is no enthusiasm as the camera pans. The children barely watch. What can surprise a child who lives among the dead, those who are dying, those who are waiting to die? Hunger has exhausted them.

They wait in line for meager or no rations. They are used to my colleague and his camera, who films for the BBC.

He is a witness to their hunger, to their death.

For 19 months of war, and now under a renewed Israeli offensive, this cameraman has heard the agonizing screams of survivors in hospital courtyards.

They are on his mind, day and night.

This morning he set out to find Siwar Ashour, a five-month-old girl whose emaciated body and exhausted cries at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis deeply moved him when he was filming there earlier this month.

She weighed just over 2 kg. A five-month-old girl should be around 6 kg or more.

Siwar has since been released from the hospital and is now at home.

He finds a one-bedroom hut, the entrance to which is covered by a gray and black curtain with floral motifs.

Inside are three mattresses, a bedside table and a mirror reflecting the sunlight on the floor. There is Siwar, her mother Najwa and her grandmother, Reem.

Siwar is calm. In the conditions of war and the Israeli blockade on aid arrivals, there is a severe shortage of the formula milk she needs.

Najwa, 23, explains that her condition stabilized while she was at Nasser Hospital, so doctors discharged her from the hospital a few days ago.

Now that she's home, she says the baby weight has started to come off again.

"The doctors told me that Siwar has improved and is better than before, but I think she is still weak and has not improved much."

Flies dance in front of Siwar's face. "The situation is very scary," says Najwa, "the insects come towards her, I have to cover her with a scarf so that nothing touches her."

Siewwar has lived with the sounds of war since last November, when he was born. Artillery, rockets, bombs falling, far and near.

The gunfire, the blades of Israeli drones whirring overhead.

Najwa explains: “She understands these things. The noise of tanks, warplanes and missiles is so loud and they are close to us. When Siwar hears these sounds, she gets scared and cries. If she is sleeping, she wakes up scared and crying.”

Doctors in Gaza say many young mothers report being unable to breastfeed their babies due to malnutrition. The most pressing problem is food and clean water.

Najwa herself was malnourished when Siwar was born. She and her mother Reem still struggle to find something to eat.

"In our case, we cannot provide milk or diapers due to prices and the border closure."

On May 22, the Israeli military body Cogat said there was no food shortage in Gaza. It said that “significant quantities of baby food and flour for bakeries” had been brought into the enclave in recent days.

The agency has repeatedly insisted that Hamas steals aid, while the Israeli government says the war will continue until Hamas is destroyed and Israeli hostages held in Gaza are released.

According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 20 hostages taken by Hamas in the October 7, 2023 attacks are believed to be alive and up to 30 others are dead.

Aid agencies, the United Nations and many foreign governments, including Britain, reject Cogat's comment that there is no food shortage. US President Donald Trump has also spoken of people "starving" in Gaza.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the amount of aid Israel has allowed into Gaza as "a drop in the ocean."

He said Palestinians were "experiencing what may be the most brutal phase of this conflict" with limited supplies of fuel, shelter, cooking gas and cleaning supplies.

According to the UN, 80% of Gaza is now designated as either an Israeli militarized zone or a place where people have been ordered to leave.

"Man doesn't think about the future or the past," says Najwa.

There is only the present moment and how to survive it.

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