Baby Siwar is back in the hospital in Gaza after recovering from treatment in Jordan.
BBCA one-year-old Palestinian girl, Siwar, evacuated from Gaza due to severe nutritional problems, has returned to a hospital in the region after returning from Jordan. Siwar Ashour,
whose story the BBC has followed for several months was deported back to Gaza on December 3 after completing her medical treatment in Amman.
He spent six months in hospital there as part of a medical evacuation program run by the Kingdom of Jordan. Her grandmother Sahar Ashour said she became ill three days after returning.
“He started having diarrhoea and vomiting and his condition is getting worse. The diarrhoea will not go away,” he told a freelance journalist working for the BBC in Gaza.
Israel has banned international journalists from freely entering Gaza since the war began nearly two years ago.
Siwar is being treated at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Siwar is being treated at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza Strip, where Dr Khalil al-Dakran told the BBC that he is “receiving the necessary treatment.
but the situation is still bad for him.” The doctor said that Siwar was suffering from a gastrointestinal infection.
He lacks an immune system, which makes it difficult for him to fight bacteria. She also struggles to absorb nutrition, which means she needs special infant formula.
Dr. Dakran said hospitals in Gaza—many of which were badly damaged by Israeli bombardment and nearby fighting with Hamas before the ceasefire took effect in October—were seeing an increase in children’s admissions.
The destruction of critical infrastructure has led to the spread of infection and disease due to poor sanitary conditions.
“Since the ceasefire was announced, the number of pediatric patients coming to hospitals in the Gaza Strip is three times the capacity… The situation at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital is no different from other hospitals in the Gaza Strip.
“It suffers from a severe shortage of medicines and medical supplies, and there is also a major shortage of power generators, which are the main artery to keep the hospital running.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) described the humanitarian needs in Gaza as “shocking, with current assistance only addressing the most basic survival needs.”.
Siwar was flown to Jordan in June after the BBC reported on his case and raised it directly with Jordanian authorities.
Dr. Mohammed al-Momani, Jordan’s communications minister, told us that Siwar was among 45 children who returned to Gaza after completing their treatment. Under the evacuation plan, all patients are sent back after medical care.
I told Dr. al-Momani that people might have difficulty accepting that a child in such a vulnerable state could be returned to Gaza under the current circumstances.
“No patient is sent back before completing their medical treatment. The first reason for their return is that it will help us receive more patients from Gaza. We can’t take them all together. We have to take them in batches. Until now we have taken 18 batches.
The second reason is that we do not want to contribute in any way to the displacement of Palestinians from their land; therefore, all patients are asked to return after their treatment so that other patients and children can be brought in for care.
Jordan also treats war wounded in its field hospital in Gaza and provides aid through air drops and road convoys. The state hosts well over 2 million Palestinian refugees.
who fled the conflict with Israel since 1948, and 500,000 refugees from other countries, mostly Syrians.
Since last March, Jordan has brought about 300 of the 2,000 sick and injured children, along with 730 parents and guardians, for treatment.
Thousands of sick Gaza citizens have received treatment from other countries in the region, including the United Arab Emirates and Türkiye.
During the ongoing conflict, the special formula milk that Sivar needed was either not available or in very short supply.
Israel imposed a complete blockade of aid into Gaza in March, but after 11 weeks, it partially lifted it. Aid deliveries have increased since the ceasefire.
However, the United Nations and aid agencies report that there are insufficient humanitarian supplies.
Jordanian officials delivered a supply of 12 cans of hypoallergenic Neocate formula to Siwar’s family as they departed for Gaza. However, Najwa, her mother, informed us that Israeli authorities confiscated nine out of her 12 boxes.
“They told us, ‘It is forbidden to carry more than these boxes,’ ” said Najwa Ashour, Siwar’s mother. “Even though it is therapeutic milk and they said it was allowed for treatment, they still took it.”
He also said that extra clothes that had been given to the family in Jordan were also taken. They conducted a thorough search.
When the guards saw us dressed in layers, they refused to let us go outside and told us, ‘You have to take off all your clothes, even one dress.’
I asked the Israeli government why they confiscated the milk formula and clothes. He replied that there were limits on what could be withheld for “security reasons.”
He said only minimal luggage was allowed and the decision had been communicated to Jordanian authorities and returning families. “In cases where the luggage exceeded the permitted limit, he was refused entry.”
WHO has asked more nations to evacuate patients who can’t get treatment in Gaza.
It also called on the Israeli government to allow patients to be treated in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank, “which is the most time- and cost-effective route.”
Israel stopped allowing such evacuations after the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 abducted in Gaza.
Kogat, the Israeli military chief responsible for aid, announced a significant easing of the process for Gazans to relocate to third countries.
Siwar’s family has received Neocate milk formula since their return to Gaza. Money has also been donated, including money raised from an online appeal. Jordanian representatives in Gaza have also met with the family to provide assistance.
The Ashour family is once again trying to get Siwar evacuated, a process that has started with the issuance of permits by Palestinian health authorities. It will be managed by WHO, which deals with all evacuation requests from what the UN calls “a wasteland.”
