Appeal for treatment of diabetic boy outside Gaza

GAZA

Mohammed Ziyadeh, a 9-year-old boy born with congenital diabetes, is hospitalized in northern Gaza, where the health system has collapsed due to Israeli attacks, hoping to leave Gaza for treatment.

Mohammed, who was staying with his family before the Israeli attacks, was hospitalized because his condition had deteriorated due to the inability to implement the necessary treatment and nutritional program.

Deprived of family warmth and care because his father was injured in Israeli attacks and his mother fled to the south of Gaza for security reasons, Mohammed dreams of the day he will leave the enclave for treatment.

Looking forward to the day when her brother will regain his health and run and play safely again, his 11-year-old sister Ayat Ziyadeh never leaves the side of her brother who came back from the brink of death four months ago due to malnutrition.

Speaking to an Anadolu reporter, she said: "My brother is a diabetic, and due to the lack of proper treatment and adequate food in northern Gaza, his life is at risk.

"We've been in the hospital for four months. We couldn't celebrate (the Muslim holy month of) Ramadan and (the festival) Eid due to the war, my brother's illness, my mother's absence, and my father's absence due to his injury."

Emphasizing that her brother urgently needs special medications and healthy nutrition, she said the lack of medication and food in the Gaza Strip is causing her brother's condition to deteriorate day by day.

Stressing a desire to get Mohammed out of Gaza for treatment, Ayat added: "We are afraid of losing him due to the lack of treatment and food."

For his part, father Numan Ziyadeh said his child needs to eat healthy food but this is not possible in the coastal enclave for the time being, adding: "There are no fruits and vegetables in the north of the Gaza Strip.

"We cannot buy what is available because we cannot afford it. Since there are no treatment facilities in the Gaza Strip due to the war and siege, we hope that my child will be transferred outside the Gaza Strip for better treatment."

According to the government media office in the Gaza Strip, Israel has targeted 159 health institutions since early October. The attacks have left 32 hospitals and 53 health centers out of service.

Israel has waged a military offensive on Gaza since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, which killed nearly 1,200 people.

Nearly 34,000 Palestinians have since been killed and over 76,600 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities, according to the Gaza-based Health Ministry.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the seaside enclave, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while much of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to ensure its forces do not commit acts of genocide, and guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Serdar Dincel in Istanbul