Outside Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah, Al Jazeera spoke to Fadi Ahmed, who had lost his son who was suffering from malnutrition.

He said his son was referred to Al-Aqsa Hospital where the medical staff discovered “massive infections in the boy’s lungs, which led to a severe lack of oxygen in his blood”.

“The boy’s weakness and severe malnutrition led to his inability to resist and then to his death … after spending one week at the hospital.”

The outlet also spoke to Intisar Hamdan outside the hospital after she had lost her grandson due to malnutrition.

Her son had not been able to find any milk for the child for three days, and after he was unable to receive treatment, the child had died, she said as she held her deceased grandson in her arms.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum said, “This is the bleak and sombre reality that has emerged from the ongoing Israeli closure of crossing borders that have left families vulnerable to face these extreme humanitarian conditions.

“Children are suffering from not just malnutrition, but also serious medical complications and diseases that cannot be easily treated and require medical supplies that are scarce,” he said.