Gaza kids born with defects following 22-day war

Since the end of criminal Israeli operation "Cast Lead" in Gaza Strip last January, more than five cases of birth have been registered which show babies who have a deformed and not fully formed heart. These births came as an effect of the use of internationally banned weapons of phosphor and uranium by the Israeli occupation in the middle of war.

According to Palestinian medical sources, the health effects on Palestinians who were targeted in Gaza Strip in the winter of 2008 – 2009 still manifest day by day, especially those caused by the internationally banned phosphorous shells and dozens of types of weapons used by Israel and which laboratory tests showed were carrying toxins with delayed lethal effects, which may appear in the future in the form of malignant and dangerous diseases.

The Palestinian woman Umm Abdullah Al-Nakhale from the district of Al-Jabal near Mount Rais, an area that had heavy Israeli shelling and phosphorous bombs, gave birth to a baby with an incomplete heart in the Shifa Hospital in Gaza. Um Abdullah is a mother of four children – she was in the early days of pregnancy during the massacre. The doctors told her that the baby suffers from non-completion of the growth of the heart, where there is not a left ventricle, and that the blood is not pumped through his body, and that due to this problem her baby may die at any moment. It is impossible to give such cases like her baby any kind of medical treatment in Gaza.

Umm Abdullah said that the doctors told her that the main reason for the condition of her child is related to her inhaling toxic gases during the Israeli war. The woman stated that during her pregnancy she did not inhale any toxic materials, but that the materials which she inhaled during the Israeli raids left her with shortness of breath. Umm Abdullah appealed to the human rights organizations to undertake more effort to expose the Israeli war crimes in Gaza. She called the health organizations of the world to assume their responsibility and to help her give the necessary treatment to her child.

Dr. Muawiya Hassanein, director General of Ambulances and Emergencies in the Gaza hospitals, said that "some cases where birth defects, such as incomplete hearts and malformations of the brain have started appearing due to Israel's use of internationally banned weapons during their war against the civilians". He confirmed 5 registered cases of babies born after the Israeli invasion of Operation Cast Lead. 

Hassanein added that the researchers and doctors attribute this to Israel's use of materials and toxic gases such as phosphorus and “DIME” weapons in some areas in Gaza, such as the central region, Al-Zahra area, the Eastern District of Al-Zayton, Ezzbet Abed Rabbo, and Wadi Gaza.

He said: “experts and international researchers from France and Italy took samples to be tested in European laboratories, and make sure that the occupation used internationally prohibited substances, but until now they have refused to give us the results”.