Over 100,000 children in Gaza at risk of death due to Israeli blockade

A mother wept as she cradled the shrouded body of her five-month-old baby, weighing barely 2kg, at a hospital in Gaza on Saturday.

Zainab Abu Haleeb, who died from malnutrition, is one of at least five Palestinians to have succumbed to starvation in the past 24 hours, as Israel’s siege continues to strangle the Gaza Strip.

The distraught mother told Middle East Eye that she had been pleading for months to be evacuated from Gaza and had already prepared the necessary documents.

“No one is listening to our pleas,” she said. “The girl suffered a lot during her sickness.”

She said that malnutrition, the lack of infant formula and the closure of crossings into Gaza had all worked against her daughter’s survival and the well-being of Gaza’s population as a whole.

Read more: Over 100,000 children in Gaza at risk of death due to Israeli blockade