Baby Siwar back in hospital in Gaza after returning from treatment in Jordan

Baby Siwar back in hospital in Gaza after returning from treatment in Jordan A one-year-old Palestinian girl evacuated from Gaza with severe nutritional problems is back in hospital in the territory after being returned there from Jordan. Siwar Ashour, whose story the BBC has followed for several months, was repatriated to Gaza on 3 December after completing her medical treatment in Amman. Siwar Ashour spent six months in hospital in Jordan after being evacuated from Gaza She'd spent six months in hospital there under a medical evacuation programme run by the Kingdom of Jordan. Her grandmother, Sahar Ashour, said she became ill three days after coming back. "She started having diarrhoea and vomiting and her situation keeps getting worse. The diarrhoea won't go away," she told a freelance journalist working for the BBC in Gaza. International journalists have been banned by Israel from entering Gaza independently since the start of the war nearly two years ago. Siwar is being treated at al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza Strip where Dr Khalil al-Daqran told the BBC she is "receiving the necessary treatment, but the situation is still bad for her". The doctor said Siwar was suffering from a gastro-intestinal infection. She has an immune system deficiency which makes it hard for her to fight bacteria. She also struggles to absorb nutrition, meaning she requires specialised baby formula. Dr Daqran said that hospitals in Gaza - many of which were badly damaged by Israeli bombing and fighting nearby with Hamas before a ceasefire took effect in October - were seeing an increase in child admissions. Poor hygiene conditions caused by the destruction of vital infrastructure have led to the spread of infections and disease. "Since the ceasefire was announced, the number of child patients arriving at Gaza Strip hospitals is three times the capacity... The situation at al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital is no different from other hospitals in the Gaza Strip. "It suffers from a severe shortage of medicines and medical supplies, and a major shortage regarding electric generators, which are the main artery to keep a hospital going." The World Health Organization (WHO) described humanitarian needs in Gaza as "staggering, with current assistance addressing only the most basic survival requirements". Siwar was evacuated to Jordan in June after the BBC reported on her case and raised it directly with the Jordanian authorities. Jordan's Minister of Communications, Dr Mohammed al-Momani, told us that Siwar was among 45 children returned to Gaza after completing their treatment. Under the evacuation scheme all patients are sent back after medical attention. I put it to Dr al-Momani that people might find it hard to accept that a child in such a vulnerable condition could be sent back to Gaza in the current conditions. "No patient is sent back before they finish their medical treatment... the first reason [why they are returned] is that this will allow us to bring more patients from Gaza. We cannot take all of them at once. We have to take them...

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