Since arriving emaciated in Italy from Gaza, little Shamm Qudeih has celebrated her second birthday and gained weight on a new diet that includes a special porridge – progress welcomed by doctors treating her for severe malnutrition worsened by a genetic metabolic disease.
Just weeks ago, the toddler was all skin and bones as she clung to her mother in a hospital in southern Gaza, after months of being unable to get the food and treatment she needed because of an Israeli blockade aimed at pressuring the Hamas militant group to release hostages. Then she was evacuated to Italy for medical treatment, along with six Palestinian children.
A striking photo of Shamm wincing in her mother’s arms, with her hair matted and ribs protruding from her chest, was taken by Associated Press freelance journalist Mariam Dagga, just days before the child left Gaza on August 13. It was one of Ms Dagga’s last images. She was among 22 people killed in an August 25 Israeli strike on the same hospital in southern Gaza.
More than half a million people in Gaza, a quarter of the population, are experiencing catastrophic levels of hunger because of the blockade and continuing military operations, the world’s leading authority on hunger crises said last month. Gaza city, in the north, is experiencing famine, it said.
Malnourished from birth
By this week, Shamm was sitting up, alert in a hospital crib in Naples, her fine blonde hair pulled into a high ponytail. She wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the word “cute”. Her wide eyes gleamed as her older sister and mother called her name from across the room, and she broke into a smile.
Weighing around 4kg when she arrived in Italy, Shamm was “in a serious and challenging clinical state,” said Dr Daniele de Brasi, a paediatric genetic disease specialist who is treating her at Santobono Pausilipon Children’s Hospital in Naples.
She now weighs 5.5kg, which is still no more than half of the median weight for a child of her age, Dr de Brasi said.
The doctor said “a big part” of her undernourishment was due to a genetic metabolic disease called glycogen storage disease, which interferes with the absorption of nutrients, particularly carbohydrates, and can cause muscle weakness and impede growth. The condition is primarily managed through a high-carbohydrate diet.
So far, “We are very satisfied with her progress,’’ Dr de Brasi said.
Shamm suffered from malnutrition from birth, just weeks before the October 7, 2023 attack in which Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 251 hostage. Forty-eight hostages are still in Gaza, around 20 of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were returned in ceasefires.
Israel responded with an offensive that Gaza health officials say has killed more than 64,000 Palestinians in nearly two years of fighting. The Gaza Health Ministry does not say how many were civilians or combatants but that around half of those killed were women and children.
No food or treatment
The family was forced to move more than a dozen times, and Shamm’s mother, Islam, struggled to get her proper medical care, visiting many hospitals and clinics. Doctors suspected the rare condition but could not test for it, much less treat it properly. They sometimes offered antibiotics.
“It became worse as a result of the lack of food, treatment and possibilities,” Islam said in an interview with Shamm resting on her shoulder. “We have been displaced maybe about 15 times, from tent to tent. We walked long distances and, along the way, it was hot, and the sun was hitting us.”
For a while, doctors administered a special formula, but Shamm would not take it, having lost the habit of drinking milk after supplies in Gaza became scarce.
The UN warned last month that starvation and malnutrition in Gaza are at the highest levels since the war began. Nearly 12,000 children under five were found to have acute malnutrition in July – including more than 2,500 with severe malnutrition, the most dangerous level. The World Health Organisation says the numbers are likely an undercount.
It was at Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis that Dagga photographed Shamm for the last time on August 9. During the visit, Shamm cried in pain in her hospital bed. Her arms, legs and ribs were skeletal, her belly swollen.
Islam had gone to school with Ms Dagga, who visited the hospital, and remembered her fondly.
“She was always coming to the hospital to check on me and Shamm”, right up to the day of their departure for Italy, Islam said. “She stayed until the last step of the stairs to say goodbye to me.”
After arriving in Italy, Islam learnt that Ms Dagga had died in an attack that killed four other journalists.
“I was upset when I heard and knew that she had died,” Islam said.
Shamm is among 181 Palestinian children being treated in Italy, according to the Italian Foreign Ministry. About one-third of those have arrived since March, when Israel ended a ceasefire with Hamas and imposed the two-and-half-month blockade on all imports, including food and medicine.
500 calories a day
Israel denies there is starvation in Gaza, despite accounts to the contrary from witnesses, UN agencies and experts. It says it allowed enough aid to enter before and after the tightened blockade and has allowed increased supplies in recent weeks.
In Naples, Shamm now has a feeding tube in her nose to ensure she gets the right mix of nutrients overnight. Doctors aim to remove the tube in about a month. During the day, she is free to eat solid food, including meat and fish. A cornerstone of her diet is the carbohydrate-rich porridge.
Her current intake is around 500 calories a day, which doctors are gradually increasing.
“In these cases, growing too fast can cause problems,” Dr de Brasi said.
Her 10-year-old sister, Judi, was brought to Italy as an accompanying family member, and doctors began treating her after noting that she was at least three or four kilograms underweight, Dr de Brasi said. She has gained 2kg and is in good condition.
With both daughters improving, Shamm’s mother is allowing herself to experience relief. But it is too soon to think about going back to Gaza, where Shamm’s father is.
“Now there is no way to go back, as long as the war is going on. There are no possibilities for my daughters,’’ she said.
The work of photojournalist Mariam Dagga – in picturesCitizenship-by-investment programmes
United Kingdom
The UK offers three programmes for residency. The UK Overseas Business Representative Visa lets you open an overseas branch office of your existing company in the country at no extra investment. For the UK Tier 1 Innovator Visa, you are required to invest £50,000 (Dh238,000) into a business. You can also get a UK Tier 1 Investor Visa if you invest £2 million, £5m or £10m (the higher the investment, the sooner you obtain your permanent residency).
All UK residency visas get approved in 90 to 120 days and are valid for 3 years. After 3 years, the applicant can apply for extension of another 2 years. Once they have lived in the UK for a minimum of 6 months every year, they are eligible to apply for permanent residency (called Indefinite Leave to Remain). After one year of ILR, the applicant can apply for UK passport.
The Caribbean
Depending on the country, the investment amount starts from $100,000 (Dh367,250) and can go up to $400,000 in real estate. From the date of purchase, it will take between four to five months to receive a passport.
Portugal
The investment amount ranges from €350,000 to €500,000 (Dh1.5m to Dh2.16m) in real estate. From the date of purchase, it will take a maximum of six months to receive a Golden Visa. Applicants can apply for permanent residency after five years and Portuguese citizenship after six years.
“Among European countries with residency programmes, Portugal has been the most popular because it offers the most cost-effective programme to eventually acquire citizenship of the European Union without ever residing in Portugal,” states Veronica Cotdemiey of Citizenship Invest.
Greece
The real estate investment threshold to acquire residency for Greece is €250,000, making it the cheapest real estate residency visa scheme in Europe. You can apply for residency in four months and citizenship after seven years.
Spain
The real estate investment threshold to acquire residency for Spain is €500,000. You can apply for permanent residency after five years and citizenship after 10 years. It is not necessary to live in Spain to retain and renew the residency visa permit.
Cyprus
Cyprus offers the quickest route to citizenship of a European country in only six months. An investment of €2m in real estate is required, making it the highest priced programme in Europe.
Malta
The Malta citizenship by investment programme is lengthy and investors are required to contribute sums as donations to the Maltese government. The applicant must either contribute at least €650,000 to the National Development & Social Fund. Spouses and children are required to contribute €25,000; unmarried children between 18 and 25 and dependent parents must contribute €50,000 each.
The second step is to make an investment in property of at least €350,000 or enter a property rental contract for at least €16,000 per annum for five years. The third step is to invest at least €150,000 in bonds or shares approved by the Maltese government to be kept for at least five years.
Candidates must commit to a minimum physical presence in Malta before citizenship is granted. While you get residency in two months, you can apply for citizenship after a year.
Egypt
A one-year residency permit can be bought if you purchase property in Egypt worth $100,000. A three-year residency is available for those who invest $200,000 in property, and five years for those who purchase property worth $400,000.
Source: Citizenship Invest and Aqua Properties
MATCH INFO
Sheffield United 3
Fleck 19, Mousset 52, McBurnie 90
Manchester United 3
Williams 72, Greenwood 77, Rashford 79
Killing of Qassem SuleimaniKilling of Qassem SuleimaniKilling of Qassem SuleimaniMATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League last-16, second leg:
Real Madrid 1 (Asensio 70′), Ajax 4 (Ziyech 7′, Neres 18′, Tadic 62′, Schone 72′)
Ajax win 5-3 on aggregate
if you go
The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct to Kolkata from Dh1,504 and Dh1,450 return including taxes, respectively. The flight takes four hours 30 minutes outbound and 5 hours 30 minute returning.
The trains
Numerous trains link Kolkata and Murshidabad but the daily early morning Hazarduari Express (3’ 52”) is the fastest and most convenient; this service also stops in Plassey. The return train departs Murshidabad late afternoon. Though just about feasible as a day trip, staying overnight is recommended.
The hotels
Mursidabad’s hotels are less than modest but Berhampore, 11km south, offers more accommodation and facilities (and the Hazarduari Express also pauses here). Try Hotel The Fame, with an array of rooms from doubles at Rs1,596/Dh90 to a ‘grand presidential suite’ at Rs7,854/Dh443.
Living in…
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
The years Ramadan fell in MayOur legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pocketsKilling of Qassem SuleimaniUAE currency: the story behind the money in your pocketsLA LIGA FIXTURES
Thursday (All UAE kick-off times)
Sevilla v Real Betis (midnight)
Friday
Granada v Real Betis (9.30pm)
Valencia v Levante (midnight)
Saturday
Espanyol v Alaves (4pm)
Celta Vigo v Villarreal (7pm)
Leganes v Real Valladolid (9.30pm)
Mallorca v Barcelona (midnight)
Sunday
Atletic Bilbao v Atletico Madrid (4pm)
Real Madrid v Eibar (9.30pm)
Real Sociedad v Osasuna (midnight)
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform’s annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
“We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country,” he said. “Quite why we’ve been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don’t know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat’s findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a “possible indicator of extremism” but it would not be banned.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Zayed Sustainability PrizeHow to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
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6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
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