Gaza woman dies after humanitarian flight to Italy hospital
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Palestinians at a charity kitchen in Gaza City on Aug 2.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
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- A 20-year-old Palestinian woman, Marah Abu Zuhri, flown from Gaza to Italy for treatment due to serious wasting, has died in hospital.
- She arrived in Pisa on an Italian humanitarian flight and received tests and treatment before experiencing respiratory crisis and cardiac arrest.
- The Italian government has flown over 180 children and young people from Gaza to Italy for treatment since the start of the war.
AI generated
ROME – A young Palestinian woman who was flown from Gaza to an Italian hospital in a severely emaciated state for treatment has died, the hospital said on Aug 16.
The 20-year-old, identified by Italian media reports as Marah Abu Zuhri, arrived in Pisa on an Italian government humanitarian flight overnight from Aug 13 to 14.
The University Hospital of Pisa said she had a “very complex clinical picture” and serious wasting, which is when a person has significant weight and muscle loss.
On Aug 15, after undergoing tests and starting treatment, she died after a sudden respiratory crisis and cardiac arrest, the hospital said.
The woman was flown to Italy with her mother on one of three Italian Air Force flights that arrived this week in Rome, Milan and Pisa, carrying a total of 31 patients and their companions.
All the patients suffered from serious congenital diseases, wounds or amputations, the Italian Foreign Ministry said at the time.
So far, more than 180 children and young people from Gaza have been taken to Italy since the war began between Israel and Hamas.
The head of the Tuscany region, Mr Eugenio Giani, offered his condolences to the woman’s family.
The hospital did not elaborate on what caused her condition, but Italian news agencies reported that she was suffering from severe malnutrition.
Humanitarian groups, UN agencies and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have warned of the risk of widespread famine in war-battered Gaza. AFP
