Gaza, February 1, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) - Although Israel's "Operation Cast Lead" technically ended in January of 2009, its effects are still emerging and will be felt for decades to come. Doctors in Gaza City are reporting an alarming increase in birth defects among women exposed to white phosphorous and other chemicals used in Israeli weapons.

Dalal Al-Agh, a Gazan woman from Al-Tofah neighborhood in Gaza City, gave birth to a malformed baby at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City recently. The infant has difficulty breathing, his arms are too short, and his feet and his nose are flat. He weighs just four kilograms and is being cared for in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Doctors observed that the mother of the deformed infant lives in Al-Tofah neighborhood in the Gaza Strip, which was attacked by Israelis using white phosphorus bombs during the last war. They speculate that the birth defects are a direct result of exposure to the chemical, which human rights groups insist should not be used in densely populated civilian areas.

Dr. Thabet Al-Masri, head of the Neonatal Intensive Care Department at Al-Shifa, provided statistics from his unit, showing an increase in birth defects since the last Israeli invasion. Unfortunately, there are no statistics available for all of the hospitals in the Gaza Strip or even Gaza City, he added.

Approximately 40,000 babies are born in the Gaza Strip annually; 12,000-13,000 of those infants are delivered at Al-Shifa Hospital.

The chart below shows the percentage of infants delivered at Al-Shifa who had birth defects during July-September in 2009 vs. 2008. Clearly, there has been an increase in deformities.

Likewise, the next chart shows an increase in infants needing neonatal intensive care at Al Shifa due to deformities.

Regarding the reasons for this increase in birth defects among Gaza infants, Dr. Thabet cited both genetic and environmental culprits. In addition to exposure of the mother to white phosphorous during the first months of pregnancy, other environmental factors include radiation and gases used in the weapons Israel emploiyed in its war on Gaza.

One of the deformed children, whose name hasn't been disclosed, left the neonatal intensive care after surgery. However, he later returned to the unit due to respiratory disfunction.

In December, Al Dameer Association for Human Rights published a position paper titled, "Health and Environmental Problems in the Gaza Strip that Lead to an Increase in the Number of Babies Born with Birth Defects, Abortion and Cancer Diseases due to the IOF Use of Radioactive and Toxic Materials during its Latest Offensive in the Strip."  The paper concluded that Israel is responsible for an environmental and health disaster in the Gaza Strip, pointing to the spike in birth defects.

According to an official at the Ministry of Health's Department of Information in Gaza, a research study will be launched soon to analyze the increase in birth defects  from 2005 (when the first data are available) to 2009, just after the last Israeli war on Gaza. He added that the results of the research may be published by the end of February.

Another report of the Palestine Telegraph documented New birth defect in Gaza due to Israeli weapons .

Report: Maysaa Jarour

Photos: Eman Jomaa