Gaza/Nawa Network-Filastiniyat:
Luzit Abu Diah is trying to help her daughter that has 11-month-old sleep, Ellin, after a long day of crying due to the diaper rash inflammation she has been suffering from.
Luziet is one of thousands of mothers struggling with a shortage of diapers and infant formula in the markets amidst the war launched by Israel on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023.
"I use any type available in the market, even if it’s of poor quality, as the options are minimal, and some have caused recurring inflammations for my little daughter," she says.
The price of a pack of poor-quality diapers, containing only 30 diapers, reaches 200 shekels ($45). Sometimes, mothers cannot find the sizes they need and are forced to buy larger or smaller sizes, which adds to the suffering of the babies.
Amid the ongoing war, Mrs. Luziet was forced to reduce the number of diaper changes for her daughter, Elin, to three times a day instead of five. This significantly increased the likelihood of her developing infections.
She adds, "During one week, I couldn’t find any diapers in the market, so I was forced to tear up old clothes I had and use them for my baby instead of diapers, after covering them with an available plastic bag."
Amid these harsh conditions, Luziet calls for a fair distribution of diapers and essential items for children. She says, "I’m not asking for the impossible; I just want these items to be made available at reasonable prices and fairly distributed to all children, especially amid the war and ongoing displacement."
Maram Yassin spoke with deep sorrow about her first daughter, Mira, whom she had hoped to provide with everything she needed, had it not been for the outbreak of the war.
The price of a pack of poor-quality diapers, containing only 30 diapers, reaches 200 shekels ($45).
She says while crying, "She is now a year and a half old, and for about six months, I have been using pieces of worn-out cloth for her instead of diapers."
The lady feels deep emotional pain because she is forced to revert to primitive times and continues, "I have to wash the cloth every time to reuse it, as even the cloth available for this purpose is scarce."
Maram gave birth to her daughter just two months before the war. She had set up a beautiful room for her, painting the walls in pink and white. "But it was destroyed along with the rest of the building, which was bombed by the occupation at the beginning of the war in Gaza City," she tells us, pointing out that her husband lost his job after the grocery shop he opened beneath their home was destroyed, less than a year after its opening.
At a time when mothers are struggling with the process of changing diapers, father Mohammed Abu Mahadi complains about wasting his time in the markets of southern Gaza, searching for diapers for his one-year-old son, Abdullah. He says, "Sometimes I return with smaller sizes than needed, and other times with only one or two diapers due to lack of money (the price of a diaper is about two dollars), which causes problems for the child, including leakage that requires changing his clothes entirely, at a time when we lost all our clothes under the rubble of our bombed home."
Abu Mahadi denies receiving any diapers from any institutions or international organizations, and continues angrily, "My wife often uses cloth for our child," questioning, "Are these conditions in line with children's and human rights?"
The closure of the Israeli occupation of the Rafah crossing from the Palestinian side since the beginning of May, and its manipulation of the flow of goods, commodities, and aid into the Gaza Strip via the Kerem Shalom commercial crossing, has worsened the suffering of the Gazans who have been devastated by the conditions of the genocide war.
شبكة نوى، فلسطينيات: The daily need of the Gaza Strip before the war was over 500 trucks loaded with various goods and commodities, which entered through the "Kerem Shalom" crossing.
According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the amount of commercial and humanitarian supplies that entered the Gaza Strip in September was the lowest since at least March 2024.
The daily need of the Gaza Strip before the war was over 500 trucks loaded with various goods and commodities, which entered through the "Kerem Shalom" crossing.
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