Palestinian women holding young children gathered in a crowded waiting room in Gaza’s Nasser hospital, hoping to find some relief from the children’s various ailments.

One woman was seen holding a nebulizer to a child’s face, while another comforted a crying infant in her lap.

"The tents' atmosphere - it's full of diseases….We go to clinics and there are no medications, even in pharmacies there are no medications. Even if the doctor prescribes it (medicine), you don’t find it,” said Alaa Madi, who brought in her sick child to the hospital.

Aid agencies say only a trickle of the aid that is needed, including medicine, is reaching people in Gaza since Israel lifted a blockade on aid in May. Israel says it is allowing in aid but must prevent it being diverted by Palestinian militants whom it blames Hamas for Gazans' suffering.

Head of the Pediatrics department at the hospital, Ahmed al-Farra, said he has seen an influx of patients with Influenza-like symptoms over recent days.

"This virus brings a lot of crowdedness in this hospital, the cases are admitted in the corridor, on the mattress, on the floor,” said al-Farra. "We discovered a lot of cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome of Acute Flaccid Paralysis.”

The World Health Organization said on Friday (August 29) that it has run out of critical medical supplies needed to treat a surge in cases of a rare paralysis-causing syndrome in Gaza.

Since June there have been 94 documented cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) in Gaza — rarely seen in the enclave prior to the war — resulting in ten deaths, the World Health Organization said.

The surge in infectious diseases has been driven by deteriorating water, sanitation, and hygiene conditions, as well as overcrowding and rising malnutrition, al-Farra said.

A report released on Friday by a global hunger monitor, Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, said about 514,000 people - nearly a quarter of Gaza's population - face famine conditions in Gaza City and surrounding areas.

Israel does not accept there is widespread malnutrition among Palestinians in Gaza and disputes the hunger fatality figures given by the health ministry of Gaza's Hamas-run government, arguing that the deaths were due to other medical causes.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA (SEPTEMBER 1, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. PALESTINIAN PATIENTS AND DOCTORS AT NASSER HOSPITAL CORRIDOR

2. VARIOUS OF WOMAN HOLDING THERMOMETER TO MEASURE CHILD'S TEMPERATURE

3. VARIOUS OF PALESTINIAN WOMEN AND CHILDREN

4. (SOUNDBITE) ) (Arabic) GRANDMOTHER OF SICK PALESTINIAN CHILD, HODA ABU SEIF, SAYING:

“Every now and then it’s the same thing, his chest is weak, his temperature is high and he is coughing. All of his siblings are like that at home - of course it's because of the conditions, the environment, and the malnutrition plays a role."

5. DOCTOR CHECKING CHILD

6. CHILD SITTING ON DESK AS DOCTOR SPEAKS TO WOMAN

7. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) GRANDMOTHER OF SICK PALESTINIAN CHILD, HODA ABU SEIF, SAYING:

"We come to the hospital and we find it full, all the children are in the same state, there are no detergents for them to clean their hands. There is no soap, there is nothing here, we try to buy but we can’t find, there’s no one to donate for these children."

8. VARIOUS OF PALESTINIAN WOMAN HOLDING NEBULIZER CLOSE TO CHILD'S NOSE

9. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED PALESTINIAN WOMAN LIVING IN TENT, UMM JIHAD MOSBAH, SAYING:

"Parasites have spread widely, there's diarrhoea, vomiting, gastroenteritis. The flu has spread in a horrible way and we can’t control it as most of the places around us are dirty. I can clean around but others might not which causes illnesses to spread. My son and my daughter.. we need (to preserve) children's personal hygiene, but soap is not available, soap is not available to clean”.

10. PALESTINIAN WOMEN HOLDING CHILDREN AT NASSER HOSPITAL

11. VARIOUS OF BABY CRYING IN WOMAN'S ARMS, AS SHE HOLDS NEBULIZER TO CHILD'S NOSE

12. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED PALESTINIAN WOMAN LIVING IN TENT, UMM JIHAD MOSBAH, SAYING:

“Provide us with medicine, provide us with food for the kids. The children's health is weakened, they have no immunity. A child aged one-year-and-a-half weighs six kilograms, this doesn’t please God. A child aged one-year and-a-half weights six kilograms, she should be at least 15 kilograms. We cannot find food for her. It has been five days since she's eaten anything - just milk.and I cannot provide her with milk."

13. PALESTINIAN WOMEN AND CHILDREN AT NASSER HOSPITAL

14. VARIOUS OF CHILD SITTING ON WOMAN'S LAP / CHILD COUGHING

15. (SOUNDBITE) ) (Arabic) MOTHER OF SICK CHILD, ALAA MADI, SAYING:

"The tents' atmosphere - it's full of diseases. May God help the children, we the adults can’t handle it so what about the children? We go to clinics and there are no medications, even in pharmacies there are no medications. Even if the doctor prescribes it (medicine), you don’t find it”.

16. PALESTINIAN WOMEN AND CHILDREN AT NASSER HOSPITAL

17. (SOUNDBITE) ) (Arabic) MOTHER OF SICK CHILD, ALAA MADI, SAYING:

“He has been suffering from the flu and a cold for ten days, but his high temperature and chest inflammation are new symptoms that have been going on for five days. He can't, he cannot stop coughing for even a minute. It is ongoing all day long."

18. PALESTINIAN WOMEN AND CHILDREN AT NASSER HOSPITAL

19. CHILD BEING FED FORMULA

20. CHILD SLEEPING IN WOMAN'S LAP

21. VARIOUS OF HEAD OF PAEDIATRICS AT MATERNITY DEPARTMENT OF NASSER HOSPITAL, AHMED AL-FARRA, IN HIS OFFICE

22. PLACARD READING (Arabic) "DOCTOR AHMED ABDELKHALEQ AL-FARRA, PAEDIATRICIAN, HEAD OF PAEDIATRICS AT MATERNITY DEPARTMENT OF NASSER HOSPITAL"

23. (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF PAEDIATRICS AT MATERNITY DEPARTMENT OF NASSER HOSPITAL, AHMED AL-FARRA, SAYING:

“This viral infection is a mimic (of) influenza viruses, and we have a lot of cases already admitted in the hospital by this virus."

24. PALESTINIANS WAITING IN AL NASSER HOSPITAL

25. (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF PAEDIATRICS AT MATERNITY DEPARTMENT OF NASSER HOSPITAL, AHMED AL-FARRA, SAYING:

"This virus brings a lot of crowdedness in this hospital, the cases are admitted in the corridor, on the mattress, on the floor. Sometimes, the doctors in the reception room are obligated not admit the cases because the over-crowdedness in the paediatric department."

26. VARIOUS OF A PALESTINIAN CHILD BEING CHECKED BY A DOCTOR

27. (SOUNDBITE)) (English) HEAD OF PAEDIATRICS AT MATERNITY DEPARTMENT OF NASSER HOSPITAL, AHMED AL-FARRA, SAYING:

"I think that we have also a lot of cases that belong to skin infection like impetigo and folliculitis and abscess. And also we discovered a lot of cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome of Acute Flaccid Paralysis due to contamination of water that the patients are drinking and it is contaminated by the sewage system. Also we have discovered a lot of cases that belong to meningitis also in the last three months and this belongs to over-crowdedness and to malnutrition and lack of vitamins."

28. VARIOUS OF NASSER HOSPITAL EXTERIOR