Gaza / PNN /

The Government Media Office in Gaza has warned that more than 40,000 infants under the age of one are at risk of a slow death due to Israel’s ongoing blockade and its ban on the entry of baby formula into the besieged Strip.

In a statement issued Monday, the office said Gaza is on the brink of an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe that threatens the lives of tens of thousands of babies, as baby formula has been completely banned from entering the territory for the past 150 consecutive days.

The office called for the immediate and unconditional opening of border crossings and the urgent entry of baby formula and humanitarian aid.

It held the Israeli occupation, its allies involved in the genocide, and the international community fully responsible for every innocent life lost as a result of this deliberate siege.

Earlier on Monday, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) stated that while all Palestinians in Gaza are going hungry, children are “suffering the most” under Israel’s blockade.

On Sunday, the Israeli army announced it had permitted limited humanitarian aid airdrops over Gaza and declared what it called a “tactical pause in military operations” in select areas to allow aid to pass through.

However, international organizations dismissed the move as promoting a “false illusion of relief,” while the Israeli military continues to use starvation as a weapon against Palestinian civilians by keeping border crossings closed since March.

The ongoing genocide has resulted in more than 204,000 Palestinians killed or wounded—most of them women and children—along with over 9,000 missing persons, hundreds of thousands displaced, and widespread famine that has already claimed the lives of many, including dozens of children.

Even within Israel, calls to end the starvation in Gaza are growing. On Sunday, the heads of five Israeli universities urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop the “horrific hunger” affecting civilians, including children and infants, in the Strip.

The university presidents expressed concern over statements made by Israeli ministers and Knesset members calling for the deliberate destruction of Gaza. They stressed that such rhetoric clearly constitutes “immoral incitement” to commit acts considered—under both domestic and international legal standards—war crimes and crimes against humanity.