Burn patients face intense recovery amid drug shortage under Israeli blockade of Gaza

Hamza Abu Shabab cringed in pain as his mother pulled off his shirt and eased his bandaged head back onto his pillow so she could apply ointment to his small, burned body. 

The seven-year-old suffered third-degree burns across his head, neck and shoulders when, frightened by an Israeli airstrike, he spilled a hot plate of rice and lentils onto himself in his family’s tent in southern Gaza last month. 

His recovery has been slowed by Israel’s blockade, now in its third month, which bars all medicine, food, fuel and other goods from entering Gaza. His burns have gotten infected — the boy’s immune system is weakened by poor nutrition and supplies of antibiotics are limited, said his mother, Iman Abu Shabab.

“Had there not been a siege or it was a different country, he would have been treated and cured of his wounds,” she said at her son’s bedside in Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

Israel’s blockade, imposed since March 2, has forced hospitals and clinics across Gaza to stretch limited stocks of medicines, even as needs increase. For burn patients, the lack of supplies is particularly excruciating. 

Burns are painful and susceptible to infection, but hospitals, including Nasser, are short on painkillers, anesthetics, dressings and hygiene materials, said Julie Faucon, the medical co-ordinator for Gaza and the occupied West Bank with Doctors Without Borders.

Burn cases surging

Since Israel resumed bombardment across Gaza in mid-March, the number of patients with strike-related burns coming into Nasser Hospital has increased fivefold, from five a day to 20, according to Doctors Without Borders, which supports the facility. The burns are also bigger, covering up to 40 per cent of people’s bodies, Faucon said. 

Some patients have died because burns impacted their airways and breathing or because they developed severe infections, she said. 

While strikes are a main cause of burns, people also seek treatment for accidents, such as spilling hot liquids. That is in part due to the squalid living conditions, with hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians squeezed into tents and crowded shelters, often cooking over wood fires.

Hamza was one of more than 70 patients in Nasser Hospital’s burns and orthopedic ward — as many as it could hold — with more streaming in for daily care. 

His mother said Hamza has undergone nine surgeries, including four on his face. The hospital ran out of the liquid painkillers used for children, and he struggles to swallow the larger pills, she said. 

Lack of food also slows recovery

In another room, four-year-old Layan Ibrahim Sahloul sits despondently among her dolls, with second-degree burns across her face, foot and stomach. A week ago, a strike on her house in Khan Younis killed her pregnant mother and two siblings, burying her under the rubble. 

Layan has difficulty moving and has become withdrawn and is in a constant state of fear, said her aunt, Raga Sahloul. She also suffers from malnutrition, she said.

“I am scared it will take her months instead of weeks to heal,” said her aunt. 

The number of malnourished children has swelled under Israel’s ban on food to Gaza, with aid groups warning that people are starving. Without proper nutrition, patients’ recovery is slowed and their bodies can’t fight infection, say health professionals. 

At the meeting of Netanyahu’s security cabinet this week, which decided to expand operations in Gaza, ministers were told that “at this point there is enough food in Gaza,” without elaborating, according to two Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the meeting.

Israel says its blockade and renewed military campaign aim to pressure Hamas into release the remaining 59 hostages it holds and to accede to Israel’s demands that it disarm. Rights groups have said the blockade is a “starvation policy” and a potential war crime.

The United Nations has warned that Gaza’s health-care system is on the brink of collapse, overwhelmed by casualties with essential medicines running out.

Life in tents brings suffering

Doctors say they’re also worried about prospects for long-term care for burn patients. Many need reconstructive surgery, but few plastic surgeons remain in Gaza. Israel has increasingly rejected entry for international medical staff in recent weeks, aid workers say, though some continue to have access. 

At the end of April, 10-year-old Mira al-Khazandar was severely burned on her arms and chest when a strike hit near her tent. Worried that she will have permanent scars, her mother combs pharmacies looking for ointments. 

Mira’s been able to return to the family’s tent to recover, but she suffers from the sand and mosquitoes there, said her mother, Haneen al-Khazandar. She has to go regularly to the hospital, which risks infecting her burns and causes her pain, standing under the sun waiting for transport. 

“She is slowly recovering, because there is no treatment and no medicines and no food,” she said. “She is tired, she can’t sleep all night because of the pain — even after I give her medicine, it doesn’t help.”