BBC cameraman chased by Gaza’s malnourished children injured in Israeli strike

The horrors of the war multiply. The dead, the pieces of the dead. The dying. Hunger. More and more of them now – all the weight of human suffering that my brave colleagues have seen in Gaza.

The urge to prevent our gaze can be overwhelming. But the cameramans who work for the BBC cannot turn away, and on Tuesday one of them became a victim. For their safety we do not reveal the names of our colleagues in Gaza.

Our cameraman was not seriously injured, but that was a matter of happiness. The Israeli bombs have been launched in the parking lot of the European Hospital in Khan Younis killed and injured dozens.

The Israelis say that Hamas’s leader hid in a command and check under the hospital. The army said it was a “precise attack” – and blamed Hamas for “cynically and cruel the civilian population in and around the hospital operating”. Hamas denies such charges.

At the time of the attack, families whose sick children from Gaza are being evacuated in the hospital from Gaza. Families were also waiting to meet children who returned from treatment abroad.

One of the fathers was at our BBC colleague and was injured by the bombs. He has now been fired from the hospital. Our journalist who tries to comfort the people of the man of the man show moving images.

Warning: This report contains disturbing images.

Much of the work of my colleague in recent days is aimed at the fate of malnourished children.

A short time before the explosion I sent a message to thank him for his work, with an enormous sensitivity, the story of Siwar Asour. This was his response:

“The story of Siwar broke something into all of us, and working on it was one of the most painful things I have ever had to do. But I knew her face, her name and her story had to be seen – had to be heard.”

Siwar is five months old and acute malnourished, a child whose big, brown eyes dominate her shrunken framework. They follow every movement of her mother Najwa. On Tuesday, Najwa sent us a video message from her room in the Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza.

She wanted the world to know how much she loves her child. “I wish she could get the treatment she needed, to fully recover and return as she was earlier – to play as other children, to grow and arrive like other children. She is my first child, and as her mother I am deeply deeply saddened for her.”

Siwar has developed a skin infection in recent days. Swears have appeared on her hands. She also has a serious gastrointestinal condition. The struggle is to keep nutrition in her. Her immune system fights the hardship caused by the Israeli blockade.

The baby’s cry is weak, but it is full of urgency, the sound of a life struggling for his survival. Siwar can only drink a special milk formula due to severe allergies.

On Tuesday there was a bit better news. Medici in nearby Jordanian Field Hospital managed to find part of the formula she needs. It is a small amount, but they are planning to send more.

In the coming days there are plans to bring sick children to the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. Here in Amman there are already several Gaza families with children being treated for illness or war wound in local hospitals. These evacuations are coordinated with the Israelis who perform background controls on the parents who travel with their children.

In January we filmed the arrival of Abdelrahman al-Nashash and his mother Asma. Abdelrahman lost his leg in an Israeli bombing.

For four months they lived in a place with food and shelter. A safe place.

When we visited them on Tuesday, Asma called her children and their grandmother in Gaza.

Grandmother Najwa spoke about the war around them. “The rockets are everywhere, shoot over our heads. The food. Life is very bad. There is no flower. The prices are very high.”

The children waved and blew kisses at their mother.

Afterwards Asma told us: “I don’t know what to say. I am very grateful for my mother for everything she does for me. I wish I can return to find them safely and in good health.” She broke and was quiet.

It is only through the eyes of a mother who sees her children caught, scared and hungry from a safe distance, that it is possible to imagine why someone would like to go back to Gaza.

With additional reporting by Alice Doard, Suha Kawar and Nik Millard.