Israeli Strikes Kill 51 in Gaza as Another Baby Starves To Death Under Blockade

A four-month-old baby died of malnutrition as malnourished mothers cannot produce breast milk, and Israel is blocking baby formula

by Dave DeCamp May 5, 2025

https://news.antiwar.com/2025/05/05/israeli-strikes-kill-51-in-gaza-as-another-baby-starves-to-death-under-blockade/

Israeli attacks on Gaza killed at least 51 Palestinians since dawn on Monday, medical sources told Al Jazeera, as another baby starved to death in the Strip due to the US-backed Israeli blockade.

According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, Yousef al-Najjar, a four-month-old baby, died of malnutrition. Yousef weighed only 3.3 pounds when he died, less than one-fourth of the average weight for his age.

Mothers suffering from malnutrition cannot produce breast milk for their babies, and the Israeli blockade is blocking the delivery of baby formula. Over the weekend, a baby girl named Janan Saleh al-Sakafi also died of starvation, and pictures from Gaza show more and more emaciated infants.

UN agencies and other aid groups have said they have thousands of trucks carrying humanitarian aid ready to enter Gaza, but Israel has continued to maintain the total blockade for over two months. The Trump administration is backing the collective punishment of the civilian population and has shown no sign of putting any real pressure on Israel to end the blockade.

Palestinian civilians suffering under the blockade also have had no relief from the violence as Israeli strikes continue to pound targets across the Strip. One attack on Monday hit a car in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at least eight people.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said in its daily update that since Israel resumed its genocidal war on March 18, at least 2,459 Palestinians have been killed, and 6,569 were injured. The numbers account for dead and wounded Palestinians brought to hospitals and morgues.

Since October 7, 2023, the ministry’s death toll has reached 52,567, and the number of wounded has climbed to 118,610, figures that don’t account for thousands missing and presumed dead under the rubble or indirect deaths caused by the Israeli siege.