Gaza Herald – Thousands of Palestinian infants are at imminent risk of death without baby formula, medical authorities warned on Saturday.
A hospital director in Gaza has warned that children are the group “most vulnerable” to the famine conditions gripping the territory amid reports that two babies have been the latest to die of malnutrition.
Dr Ahmed al-Farra, director of the children’s hospital at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, affirmed that children cannot survive long without food.
He warned that children face the greatest risk from the critical food shortages afflicting Gaza caused by the Israeli blockade. He said there would be mass deaths if border crossings are not immediately opened to allow aid to flow in.
Meanwhile, five people have died from malnutrition in Gaza over the past 24 hours, with two babies among the victims.
One, Hood Arafat, was born just a week ago in Gaza City and died as a result of malnutrition due to a lack of milk. Earlier on Saturday, staff at the Nasser Medical Complex reported that a six-month-old, Zainab Ahmed Abu Haleeb, had also died of malnutrition.
100,000 Children at Risk of Death
Gaza’s Government Media Office has strongly warned of an “unprecedented and imminent humanitarian disaster” being committed by Israel, saying 100,000 children aged two years and under, including 40,000 babies, are at risk of death within days.
This is due to a “complete lack of baby milk and nutritional supplements, and the continued closure of crossings and prevention of the entry of the simplest basic supplies”, it said in a statement.
“We are facing an expected and deliberate mass killing slowly being committed against infants whose mothers have been breastfeeding them water instead of baby milk for days, as a result of the starvation and extermination policy pursued by the ‘Israeli’ occupation.”
