Health officials in Gaza have confirmed five deaths, including four children, from ascending paralysis, with nearly 100 cases now recorded. Doctors warn that half of those infected are children under 15, while several others remain at risk of death as hospitals run out of essential medicines and life-saving equipment.

Dr Ahmad Al-Farra of Nasser Medical Complex explained that the disease ranges from mild cases that recover spontaneously to severe cases attacking the respiratory muscles, often leading to death without ventilator support. But with Gaza’s hospitals crippled, access to even basic treatment is impossible. Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya of Al-Shifa Hospital warned that three children are currently in critical condition and called for the urgent entry of polio and other essential medicines.

The crisis comes amid soaring malnutrition: tens of thousands of children under five now require urgent hospital care, yet hospitals can offer little more than saline and glucose drips. Pregnant women, too, face life-threatening risks as malnutrition leads to weakened immunity, anaemia and premature births without proper neonatal care.

With clean water scarce and epidemics spreading in the heat, doctors say Gaza’s healthcare system has collapsed under the weight of siege, bombardment and famine. Patients with chronic illnesses such as diabetes, kidney failure and heart disease are left without treatment, as children die not only from hunger but now from preventable diseases that the blockade makes impossible to fight.