The nameless virus spreading in Gaza: "We survived the bombing, but I don't want the disease to take my baby away from me."

On September 1, Sabreen Abu Khater, 26, arrived at the pediatric ward of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis with her three-month-old son, Mohammed. He had a fever, chest congestion, and difficulty breathing. Upon arrival, doctors started him on a nebulizer and administered intravenous medication, explaining that they have already received numerous patients with a virus they cannot identify , which is spreading rapidly due to the overcrowding and miserable living conditions experienced by most of the population in the Strip .

“At first, we thought it was seasonal flu, but this virus is different: more aggressive, spreading rapidly through crowded displacement camps and bringing many children to the hospital,” Ahmed al-Farra, head of pediatrics at the hospital, told this newspaper.

According to this doctor, the symptoms are inflammation of the upper respiratory tract and high fever, but if the condition worsens, severe respiratory distress can occur, requiring ventilator support. Some patients also suffer from vomiting and diarrhea. "We're seeing cases in intensive care that we never see with seasonal flu," he said.

Abu Khater cradles Mohammed in his arms, trying to hold the nebulizer over his small face. The family has been displaced seven times since October 2023 and lives in miserable conditions. “He caught the infection from his siblings, Siba, seven, and Sohaib, six,” he explains to EL PAÍS. His older children recovered with home remedies and basic medications, but Mohammed gradually worsened.

At first, we thought it was seasonal flu, but this virus is different: more aggressive, spreading rapidly through crowded displacement camps and bringing many children to the hospital.

Ahmed al Farra, head of pediatrics at Nasser Hospital

“We live in a tent without clean water, food, or medicine,” she said. “I know that malnutrition , lack of hygiene, and lack of medicine are the reasons my children got sick. But there’s nothing I can do,” the mother laments.

Caught between war and disease

At Nasser Hospital, 80 of the 120 children admitted to the pediatric ward suffer from respiratory illnesses. Before the war, Al Farra said, that number rarely exceeded 40. The doctor suspects the virus is a form of influenza or COVID-19, but emphasizes that it appeared before the time of year when these illnesses flare up and is resistant to traditional treatments.

“We don't know exactly what it is. Whether it's the flu, COVID-19, or something else. We don't have the tools to make an accurate diagnosis, nor do we have a clear treatment protocol, and there are hardly any medications left. Elderly patients are dying. Hunger, displacement , and poor hygiene make recovery almost impossible,” he warns, emphasizing that establishing a diagnosis is hampered by the fact that testing laboratories are practically destroyed.

I know that malnutrition, lack of hygiene, and lack of medication are the reasons my children got sick. But there's nothing I can do.

Sabreen Abu Khater, Gazan mother

In an adjoining room, Mariam Abu Taha, 26, cradles her 45-day-old son, Yunes, while bottle-feeding him, after doctors advised her to stop breastfeeding so the baby would have to work less hard to suck. “There are no medicines out there,” she says. But at the same time, infections are easy to catch in the hospital, admits this mother, who has been displaced more than a dozen times since the war began and now lives in a tent in Al Mawasi, in the southern Gaza Strip.

“The doctors keep treating it like the flu,” she said. “But this is worse. Many children in the displacement camp are sick and won't recover. We survived the bombing, but I don't want the disease to take my baby away from me,” says Abu Taha, who arrived in Al Mawasi four months ago.

The outbreak of this virus coincides with the declaration of a "totally man-made" famine in Gaza City and its surrounding areas, where the lives of at least 500,000 people are at risk due to a lack of food. The UN report, published in mid-August, estimates that the same "catastrophic conditions" will spread to the south, to Deir al-Balah and Khan Yunis, by the end of September, if nothing changes. It also warns that the famine situation in the north of the Strip has not been assessed, "where the situation is equal to or worse than that of Gaza City." "The virus spreads faster in starving bodies and becomes much more lethal," warns Al Farra.

A recent study by the Israeli NGO Physicians for Human Rights and the University of Chicago Global Human Rights Clinic found that Israel's severe and unpredictable restrictions on essential medical supplies entering Gaza have led to entirely preventable suffering and death among patients.

Despite everything, Sabreen and Mariam know they are fortunate, as their sick babies have a bed in this hospital. That same morning, dozens of mothers are sitting on the floor of the medical center, waiting for their children to receive treatment in the corridors. Among them is Dohaa Abu Assi, 30, whose almost two-month-old daughter Jana was born prematurely, weighing less than 1.5 kilograms. The little girl is in her mother's arms, wrapped in a tattered cloth brought from their tent in Al Mawasi. "We don't have electricity in the camp to run a nebulizer," Dohaa explains. "That's why we stay here, even if it means sleeping on the hospital floor," she adds.

The near-collapse of the health system has turned treatable diseases into deadly epidemics.

Abdelrauf Al Manaama, microbiologist at the Islamic University of Gaza

In a telephone conversation with this newspaper, Professor Abdelrauf al-Manaama, a microbiologist at the Islamic University of Gaza, recalls that diseases not seen for decades, including polio, have reappeared in Gaza. “Children, the elderly, pregnant women, and people with chronic illnesses are vulnerable, but now the entire population is immunosuppressed, including doctors and nurses,” he said.

“Normally, viral infections resolve on their own. But in bodies weakened by hunger and trauma, they can be fatal,” Al Manaama warned. “The near-collapse of the health system has turned treatable diseases into deadly epidemics,” he added.

On August 14, Doctors Without Borders described Gaza's health system as a "broken shell" under relentless war and siege. According to the UN, 18 of the Strip's 36 hospitals are functioning, but only partially and overwhelmed with patients. In a war context, where people are wounded by bombing or sniper fire every day, patients suffering from a virus inevitably take a backseat.

“Without external assistance, Gaza’s health system can no longer save lives,” Al Manaama concludes.