Gaza Starvation Crisis Claims Infant Life: 5-Month-Old Dies Amid Deepening Malnutrition
Gaza Starvation Crisis Claims Infant Life: 5-Month-Old Dies Amid Deepening Malnutrition
A tragic illustration of Gaza’s deepening humanitarian crisis unfolded on Friday, July 25, as a 5-month-old Palestinian baby, Zeinab Abu Halib, died in her mother’s arms from severe malnutrition. Her mother, Israa Abu Halib, recounted the harrowing ordeal to CNN on Saturday, describing a desperate 30-minute walk through extreme heat and hunger to reach a hospital in southern Gaza, only for Zeinab to stop breathing en route.
“Suddenly I felt that she stopped moving and breathing; her body became heavier,” Israa Abu Halib shared, her grief echoing a desperate plea: “How many innocent babies like Zeinab should be starved to death so the world wakes up?”
Dr. Munir al-Boursh, Director General of the Ministry of Health, confirmed Zeinab’s death from “complications of severe malnutrition,” highlighting that she was “left to waste away until she became skin over bones.” He added a stark statistic: over 260,000 children under five in Gaza are currently suffering from malnutrition. The health ministry reported on Friday that 122 people, including 83 children, have died from malnutrition since the conflict began in 2023, with the majority of these deaths occurring since early March.
Despite a partial lifting of aid restrictions in late May, aid agencies, including Doctors Without Borders, report that the volume of assistance is grossly inadequate. Doctors Without Borders noted a quadrupling of malnutrition cases since May 18, with a quarter of children aged 6 months to 5 years and pregnant/breastfeeding women screened last week showing signs of malnutrition. The ongoing crisis continues to claim innocent lives as humanitarian access remains severely limited.
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