Israeli blockade pushes 40,000 infants aged under 1 to the brink
ANKARA – More than 100,000 children in the Gaza Strip, including 40,000 infants aged under 1, are facing imminent death due to the complete lack of baby formula and nutritional supplements, the Government Media Office in Gaza warned on Saturday.
In a statement, the office described the situation as an unfolding “massacre in slow motion,” accusing Israel of deliberately starving Gaza’s youngest population through its continued blockade and closure of all border crossings.
According to the office, mothers have resorted to feeding their babies water for days in the absence of formula, while hospitals and health centers are witnessing a daily surge in cases of acute and life-threatening malnutrition.
Health authorities in Gaza have reported 122 deaths so far due to starvation and malnutrition, including 83 children, amid the near-total collapse of the medical system and a critical shortage of basic food supplies.
Calling the crisis “a shocking warning issued in the name of humanity and global conscience,” the media office demanded the immediate entry of baby formula and nutritional supplements, the reopening of all crossings without conditions, the lifting of Israel’s “criminal siege,” and urgent international intervention to halt a “deliberate extermination campaign against children.”
The office concluded by holding the Israeli government and its international allies “fully responsible for a looming crime against humanity,” warning that continued global silence amounts to “explicit complicity in the genocide of Gaza’s children.”
Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, killing over 59,700 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave. — AA
