In a makeshift tent on a beach in Gaza, three-month-old Muntaha winces as her grandmother pushes a syringe filled with chickpea paste into her mouth – grainy, painful and all they have left. Ground as finely as possible, the paste still leaves the infant squirming in discomfort.
“If she could speak, she’d scream at us, asking what we’re feeding her,” said her aunt, Abir Hamouda.
Muntaha is one of countless babies in Gaza caught in a heartbreaking crisis – too young for solid food, yet starving in a place where infant formula is nearly nonexistent.
Families are forced into impossible choices, doing what they can to keep their children alive.
Infant formula has become scarce following a steep drop in aid access to Gaza.
