GAZA, PALESTINE - MAY 6, 2025: With grief and pain, Palestinian mother Najia al-Najjar looks at her four-month-old baby, Yousef. He weighs no more than 1.5 kilograms, about a quarter of the average weight for any infant his age, due to malnutrition caused by Israel's deliberate starvation of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. “My baby has turned into a skeleton from malnutrition,” the bereaved mother told Anadolu on Thursday. “The Gaza Strip does not have any kind of food.” Yousef is one of thousands of Palestinian children starving in Gaza under Israel’s crippling blockade on the seaside enclave. Since March 2, Israel has kept Gaza’s crossings closed to food, medical, and humanitarian aid, deepening an already humanitarian crisis in the enclave, according to government, human rights, and international reports. According to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), hundreds of thousands of Palestinians eat only one meal every two or three days amid Israel’s crippling blockade. Najia said her baby started to vomit all the milk that he suckles from his mother as a result of his malnutrition. The 4-month-old baby has gained only 300 grams since he was born, and now he weighs 1.5 kilograms, which is not more than a quarter of the average weight for his age. The mother said the therapeutic milk Yousef needs for the growth of his body and internal organs is not available in Gaza, and they cannot travel abroad for medical treatment due to the Israeli blockade. - Starvation The Palestinian mother appealed to the international community to pressure Israel to allow access to food and aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip. “We want to eat and feed our children. There is no egg, flour, or water,” Najia said. She said that most Palestinian mothers also suffer from malnutrition because of the Israeli siege. “We need to eat to feed our babies, who get their nutrients from breast milk only.” According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 90% of pregnant and breastfeeding women in Gaza are suffering from severe malnutrition in addition to the extreme shortage of urgent medical supplies. “Children in Gaza are dying due to the lack of food,” Najia said, calling on the Arab world to stand with Palestinian children against Israel’s use of hunger as a weapon in the war-torn enclave. - Health complications Ahed Farwaneh, a pediatrician, said malnourished children face serious health complications, including high risks of catching severe infections in crowded shelters and displacement centers, and deficiencies in kidney and liver function. Farwaneh called on children's organizations to provide a helping hand to the Palestinian babies, who are deprived of necessary medical treatment in and out of Gaza. On Monday, Gaza Field Hospitals Director Marwan Al-Hams said that the Israeli blockade and the closure of the border for more than two months have exacerbated the disruption of the healthcare system. Al-Hams said that thousands of children and pregnant women were denied basic medical care after primary care centers went completely out of service due to Israeli bombardment or evacuation. Figures released by Gaza’s government media office showed that at least 57 Palestinians have died of starvation since October 2023. Nearly 52,800 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Gaza in Israeli genocide since October 2023, most of them women and children. The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November 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.