GAZA, (The Palestine Foundation Pakistan)
Dr. Munir Al-Bursh, Director General of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, revealed an unprecedented spread of anemia among children in the Gaza Strip, announcing that 82% of children under the age of one are affected, a deeply alarming figure that reflects the deteriorating health conditions caused by Israeli blockade and genocide.
He emphasized that the Israeli occupation is working to engineer both genocide and health-based extermination, aiming to “erase Palestinian lineage.” Al-Bursh warned that Israel seeks a generation born from a deformed womb to live a deformed life.
This spike in anemia rates poses an “imminent threat” to children’s survival and development, especially as Israel continues to block the entry of essential medications tied to childhood health programs.
The deprivation, he noted, threatens to produce a generation with severe health deformities, with 156 cases of birth defects already recorded since the war began.
Al-Bursh also reported a significant 40% drop in birth rates compared to pre-war levels, highlighting the catastrophic living and healthcare conditions, and the immense risks faced by both mothers and infants amid a crumbling health system.
These warnings come after two years of Israel’s war on Gaza, backed by US and European powers, leaving behind mass destruction, killing, starvation, displacement, and arrests, in blatant defiance of international appeals and International Court of Justice rulings demanding a halt to the genocide.
According to official Palestinian data, the war has resulted in over 239,000 casualties, mostly women and children, in addition to more than 11,000 missing persons, whose fates remain unknown. Gaza is also suffering a famine that has claimed the lives of many children, alongside hundreds of thousands of displaced people and near-total destruction of towns and cities.
Health officials warn that the anemia crisis is just one face of the broader healthcare collapse in Gaza, urging urgent international intervention to save what’s left before the catastrophe deepens and leaves a lasting impact on entire generations.
