Chubby Roots

The official death toll in Gaza—74,618—is a vast undercount. This number only counts people who have been directly killed through violent means, like bullets and bombs, and whose bodies were recovered. It does not count people who have been killed as a result of Israel's other genocidal policies, such as their blockades on food & medicine, destruction of hospitals, and demolition of water & sewage infrastructure. In reality, the death toll in Gaza is in the hundreds of thousands. One of these uncounted deaths caused directly by Israel's policies is Mohammad @AboJamil97's first son, Jamil, a baby boy who was born and died in 2024 in Gaza. Recently, they welcomed another son into their family, named after their first son. Here is his story. "Before the war, my wife was five months pregnant. When the war began, we were displaced to central Gaza. During that period, we were forced to flee more than once—around six times. When the time came for her to give birth, there were very few hospitals available. They did not have adequate care or proper facilities, and there was a severe lack of medical equipment. Many of them had been badly damaged. On the same bed where my wife was giving birth to our baby, two other women were also giving birth. My son was born safely and appeared to be well. But after two hours, his body began to grow very cold. There wasn't even any infant formula available in the markets. It was completely unavailable. All of this was happening during a great famine. After he began to grow cold, they took him to the intensive care unit to care for him. But the electricity was unreliable, and they were unable to determine what he was suffering from. A few hours later, my son passed away, without us ever knowing the reason why." xitter.gq/AboJamil97/status/2115…