Inside the deadly conditions for children in Gaza

Good morning. It's Monday, January 29th. I'm Yasmeen Khan in for Shamita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." Coming up… Why Gaza's called the most dangerous place to be a child right now… Museums cover up exhibits of Native American artifacts… And a thrilling comeback and an upset set the stage for the Super Bowl.

But first, let's take a look at some big developments in the Middle East. Three U.S. troops are dead and dozens more injured after a drone attack in Jordan, near the Syrian border. The U.S. says Iran-backed militant groups were behind the attack, and President Biden promises a response. The difficult part is how to respond in a way that doesn't start a larger conflict between Iran and the U.S. Retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton talked about this tricky balance on "CNN."

There are several options here. Most of them are very bad. But the best option of a bad series of choices is going to be to hit something that is very important to the Iranians, but it is not something that strikes at the core of the regime or at the core of some of their capabilities, but it would serve as a warning to them. So something like attacking naval assets in the Persian Gulf, something like that kind of goes up to the line.

Iran denied involvement in the drone strike. This latest violence comes as the U.S., Qatar, and Egypt are encouraging Israel and Hamas to make a new deal for a ceasefire. There were high-level talks in Paris yesterday, which included the CIA's director. One proposal could stop fighting for up to 60 days in exchange for the release of hostages and more aid to Gaza. And the U.N. is urging the U.S. and other countries to restore aid money for the U.N.'s agency working in Gaza.

because the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains desperate and U.N. aid is a lifeline for civilians. We've been reporting daily about the dangerous situation for civilians in Gaza. Today, we want to get more specifics about conditions on the ground.

Before the U.N. aid story broke, I spoke with Dr. Tania Hach Hassan, a pediatric intensive care doctor with Doctors Without Borders, also known as MSF. Dr. Haj-Hassan is in frequent touch with colleagues working in Gaza. She told me what doctors and nurses are seeing is unlike any other war zone they've worked in.

There is literally no safe space. People cannot flee. This is a population that is completely entrapped, who has been asked or forced to move sequentially into a smaller and smaller pocket of land. And even in those areas that are declared, quote unquote, safe, where they're told to flee to, they are being actively killed. So it's completely unprecedented in modern day history.

How are your colleagues in Gaza doing right now? What's the latest that you're hearing from them?

Since the very beginning, the messages have been dire, and they've become increasingly dire as time has gone by. I would say last week, I got a lot of messages to the effect of, we're literally living in hell. We never imagined something so horrific. We feel like the world has completely abandoned us. I think there was a sense of frustration. One colleague, I can actually just pull up her messages to me here.

Nothing matters, nothing affects me, I care about nothing. If you told me right now that the whole world was on fire, I wouldn't blink. I don't know why this is, but that's how I feel. I feel numb.

Mm. I would like to ask about Gaza's youngest patients, newborns and their mothers. The UN reported that some 20,000 babies were born in Gaza in the first 105 days of the war. I'm also seeing reported spikes in miscarriages and stillbirths.

Mm-hm.

What capacity is there for treating pregnant women and infants?

Almost none at this point. We've heard numerous stories, rather horrific stories of women trying to access care for delivery. A pregnant woman known to the MSF team had tried to find somewhere to deliver her baby, but the hospitals were full and ultimately delivered in the latrine near her tent. And unfortunately, her son died.

UNICEF says Gaza is the most dangerous place on earth to be a child right now. They've called it a graveyard for children. Dr. Haj-Hassan says that even if a child is lucky enough to survive the bombing, there's no guarantee they'll survive the war.

The new mothers describe not being able to keep their babies warm. If you're lucky and you can produce breast milk, your supply is likely to be limited by dehydration with ongoing limited access to drinking water. And then if you cannot produce breast milk, formula is almost impossible to come by these days. We've had report over report about starvation in Gaza, and families eating at most one meal a day, sometimes not at all, no access to clean water.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 26,000 Gazans have died, including many children.

Dr. Haj-Hassan says collecting data has been difficult, and the number of deaths is likely much higher. Several museums across the U.S. are changing or closing exhibits displaying Native American artifacts.

This is to comply with new regulations from the Biden administration. The new rules require consultation and consent from descendants, tribes, or Native Hawaiian organizations in order to display or do research on human remains or cultural items. The American Museum of Natural History in New York just closed two major exhibition halls to comply. Museum President Sean Decatur talked to "CNN" about the thinking behind the moves

The intent of the regulations, and I think the intent of this process, is to make sure that the voices of Indigenous peoples have a say both in in how their stories are told in museums and participate actively in the presentation of their narratives in museums.

Decatur said in a letter to staff that the exhibits were also out of date, from a time when museums did not respect the perspectives and shared humanity of indigenous peoples. Similar moves are happening at the Field Museum in Chicago, Denver Art Museum, Cleveland Museum of Art, and others. Curators are removing objects or covering up display cases until staffers can research what needs consent. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland rolled out the new regulations last month.

She's the first Native American to hold a cabinet position. She said the process will help return what was stolen back to communities. And she said it's, quote, laying the groundwork for the healing of our people. A couple of quick stories from the sports world before we go. Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva is banned for four years for violating doping rules. The ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport is backdated to December 2021. That's when she tested positive.

The decision likely means Russian skaters will be stripped of their team gold medal from the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, and the U.S. team will get gold instead. Medals have been in limbo for years as legal wrangling over the doping allegations dragged on. And in the NFL, the Super Bowl is now set, with the Kansas City Chiefs taking on the San Francisco 49ers. It'll be a rematch of the 2020 Super Bowl, which the Chiefs won.

More than 400 days after the breakup, I continue to stew on it, analyze it, grieve it. I also haven't had more than three consecutive hours of sleep since the fall of 2022.

That's the voice of LA Times reporter Todd Martens. If you've ever been through a bad breakup, you know how much it hurts. And you also know that it's not just psychological pain.

Martens talks with researchers to explore how our brains get rewired after heartache. He learns about how heartbreak affects our immune systems. It can literally make us sick. And he finds out what science has to offer to fix a broken heart. That's cued up for you next in the Apple News app. And if you're listening in the Podcasts app, follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find the story. And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.