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‘An Avoidable Disaster’: Israeli Blockade of Gaza Could Starve Hundreds of Premature Babies

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Original article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

A newborn baby in an incubator struggles to survive following Israel’s blockade of food and medical aid in Gaza City, Gaza on March 11, 2025. 
(Photo: Khalil Ramzi Alkahlut/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The Associated Press reported Wednesday that 580 premature infants are at risk of death due to “depleted” reserves of baby formula.

The Associated Press reported Wednesday that 580 premature infants are at risk of death, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, due to a shortage of medical-grade formula entering the strip.

Despite a recent policy change by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow “minimal aid” into the strip following a total blockade of food, water, shelter, and medication, it has proven far too little to keep hospitals running and keep people fed. It has proven especially deadly for children.

The AP report quotes Dr. Ahmed al-Farah, head of the pediatrics and obstetrics department at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, one of the few functional medical facilities left in Gaza.

Last week, al-Farah warned that the hospital’s stock of milk was “completely depleted,” and that unless aid was delivered immediately, the babies would face “an avoidable disaster.” The widely publicized call was answered with the shipment of 20 boxes of formula from the U.S. aid group Rahma Worldwide.

Al-Farah said this was enough to meet the needs of 10 babies for two weeks, but warned that in the long run it would be far too little, especially with no guarantee of aid in the future.

“This is not enough at all,” he told the AP. “It solved the problem temporarily, but what we need is a permeant solution: Lift the siege.”

Many other hospitals reported shortages of formula that had not been answered, such as Al-Rantisi Hospital in Gaza City, which was completely out of stock.

Fortified milk has become increasingly necessary in Gaza due to the increasing number of premature births. In May, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that as a result of widespread hunger, 1 in 5 children is now born pre-term or underweight. That malnutrition has also left many new mothers unable to breastfeed.

Dr. Asaad Nawajha, a pediatric specialist at Nasser Hospital, told Middle East Eye that the blockade has proven catastrophic for the health of both children and their mothers.

“This all goes back to the [harsh] conditions mothers endure amid this vicious war on the Gaza Strip,” Nawajha said. “Due to the lack of nutritious items entering the Gaza Strip, both mothers and children have been exposed to illnesses resulting from malnutrition.”

The Israeli government’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) has insisted that the amount of aid allowed into Gaza is sufficient to provide for the population.

On June 22, COGAT announced that 430 aid trucks had been allowed to enter the strip during the preceding week. However, this is but a fraction of the more than 600 trucks per day that the United Nations is necessary to meet their needs.

Many people who have come to aid sites administered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), to obtain the meager supplies available, have been met with deadly violence from the Israeli military.

Since May 27, at least 549 Palestinians have been killed and more than 4,000 injured by Israeli forces at these sites, according to the U.N. Office for Coordinated Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Gaza Ministry of Health. The Gaza Media Office reports at least 19 fatal incidents at these GHF sites over the span of just one month.

Many of the victims have been children. According to a study released Thursday by the humanitarian group Save the Children, children have been killed at 10 of those 19 incidents.

“No child should be killed searching for food,” said Ahmad Alhendawi, Save the Children’s regional director for the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe. “This is not a humanitarian operation—it’s a death trap.”

Original article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

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Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel's Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don't do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
Continue Reading‘An Avoidable Disaster’: Israeli Blockade of Gaza Could Starve Hundreds of Premature Babies

UN warns against return to ‘dark ages’ as children suffer record violations in Gaza

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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

Palestinians search for usable items in the rubble of heavily damaged and collapsed buildings after Israeli attacks on Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, Gaza on June 26, 2025. [Saeed M. M. T. Jaras – Anadolu Agency]

The UN’s top official for children and armed conflict issued a stark warning on Wednesday to the Security Council, urging immediate action to protect children amid surging violence in conflict zones, particularly in the Gaza Strip.

Virginia Gamba, the UN envoy for Children and Armed Conflict told the Council; “The year 2024 witnessed an unprecedented escalation of violence against children, as well as a devastating record of attacks on humanitarian personnel and United Nations staff on the ground.” 

“All too often, children continue to bear the brunt of relentless hostilities, indiscriminate attacks, blunt disregard for ceasefires, peace efforts, and shocking disregard for international humanitarian and human rights law,” she said. “All of these, in a context of deepening humanitarian crises at unprecedented levels.”

Gamba said the denial of humanitarian access has become “one of the gravest obstacles to protecting children in conflict zones,” citing attacks on aid convoys, detention of aid workers and bureaucratic barriers to essential services like food, healthcare and education.

“We cannot continue to stand by and watch with no action what is happening to the children globally, and especially in Gaza,” she said. “The scale of destruction and suffering borne by the children of Gaza defies and contravenes every human standard.”

READ: UN warns of devastating civilian toll amid Gaza aid crisis

“There is no justification for depriving children of access to the means for their survival, including access to food, health care and security,” she added.

Gamba said she has called on Israel “to facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief to civilians in need in the Gaza Strip,” and urged “all parties to the conflict in Gaza to expedite the distribution of aid because international humanitarian law applies to every party, in every conflict, and it must be respected.”

Noting that almost half of all grave violations in 2024 were committed by non-state armed groups, including “killing and maiming, abduction, recruitment and use, and sexual violence,” she emphasized that “this is unacceptable.”

“The deliberate targeting and military use of schools, hospitals, and essential water and sanitation infrastructure must end,” she said, urging states to uphold international legal commitments to protect children.

“Let us renew the global consensus on child protection and uphold every child’s fundamental right to life, health, education, and a safe future,” Gamba said.

“We cannot afford to return to the dark ages, where children were invisible and voiceless victims of armed conflict,” she warned. “Please do not allow them to slip back into the shadows of despair.”

Echoing Gamba’s concerns, UNICEF Director of Child Protection Sheema Sen Gupta told the Security Council: “Each violation against children in every country around the globe represents a moral failure. And each leaves scars that may never fully heal.”

“In Israel and the state of Palestine last year, over 8,000 grave violations have been verified,” she said. “In Gaza, children bear the brunt of this suffering. Nowhere else in the world has such a high number of grave violations been recorded since this Council established the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism 20 years ago.”

“Children are not collateral damage. They are not soldiers. They are not bargaining chips. They are children. They deserve to be safe. They deserve justice. They deserve a future,” she said. “This just cannot be the new normal.”

READ: Hamas urges international, Arab countries to stop Israel’s daily massacres of starving Gazans

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

Vote Labour for Genocide.
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UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel's Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don't do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
Continue ReadingUN warns against return to ‘dark ages’ as children suffer record violations in Gaza

Labour MPs launch major rebellion to stop welfare bill

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https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jun/23/labour-mps-launch-major-rebellion-to-stop-benefits-cuts-bill

Liz Kendall urged her colleagues to support the bill; however, dozens of backbenchers have already signed the amendment seeking to kill it off. Photograph: James Veysey/Shutterstock

Amendment intended to kill off legislation that would cut benefits could be backed by up to 100 Labour MPs including senior figures

…

Dozens of backbench MPs have signed the amendment. Government whips have already been steeling themselves for a rebellion on the welfare bill when it is first voted on next week.

A senior MP said: “The government hasn’t listened to private concerns so now will have to address these very public ones.”

The aim would be to pass a so-called “reasoned amendment”, which halts the passage of a bill. It means the bill would not pass its second reading, saying that provisions “have not been subject to a formal consultation with disabled people, or co-produced with them, or their carers”.

It also says the bill should not pass until the Office for Budget Responsibility can publish its analysis of the employment impact of the changes this autumn. The amendment adds that most of the additional employment support funding will not be in place until the end of the decade.

It notes the government’s own impact assessment estimates that 250,000 people will be pushed into poverty as a result of the provisions, including 50,000 children. It calls for an assessment of the impact of the changes on health or care needs and for the conclusion of other reviews.

…

Original article at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jun/23/labour-mps-launch-major-rebellion-to-stop-benefits-cuts-bill

Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.

Continue ReadingLabour MPs launch major rebellion to stop welfare bill

Israel targets medical warehouse in Gaza 

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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

The Israeli army on May 19, 2025 targeted a warehouse storing medical fluids and supplies at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis, the southern Gaza Strip. [Abed Rahim Khatib – Anadolu Agency]

The Israeli occupation army targeted a warehouse storing medical fluids and supplies at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis, the southern Gaza Strip, this morning.

The Gaza Health Ministry posted images on social media showing the aftermath of the Israeli army’s attack on the medical supplies warehouse within the complex.

The photographs reveal extensive destruction of medical fluids, supplies, and vital equipment following the Israeli forces’ attack.

The attack comes one day after the Israeli occupation army announced the launch of a ground offensive in several areas across Gaza as part of its “Operation Gideon’s Chariots”, marking a dangerous escalation in the ongoing genocidal war on the Palestinian enclave.

Last week, the Israeli occupation army attacked the Nasser Medical Complex, the largest hospital in Gaza, killing and injuring several Palestinians receiving treatment inside, according to a statement by the Gaza local authorities.

Throughout its genocide in Gaza, the Israeli army has systematically targeted Gaza’s hospitals and health care system, rendering most of them nonfunctional and endangering the lives of patients and wounded, as documented by Palestinian and UN reports.

The Israeli occupation army has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing more than 53,300 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

READ: Israeli bulldozers demolish wall of Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel's Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don't do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
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Continue ReadingIsrael targets medical warehouse in Gaza 

135 people killed in Gaza as Israel announces extensive ground operations

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/135-people-killed-gaza-israel-announces-extensive-ground-operations

Saleh Zenati, carries the body of his infant nephew Khalid Zenati killed in an Israeli army airstrike, during his funeral in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, May 18, 2025

AT LEAST 135 people, including children sleeping in tents, were killed over the weekend in relentless bombardment of Gaza, as all public hospitals in the north were rendered out of service. 

It came as the Israeli military said that it has begun extensive ground operations throughout northern and southern Gaza as part of its Operation Gideon’s Chariots, which it claims aims to seize territory, displace large segments of the population to Gaza’s south and assert greater control over the distribution of humanitarian aid.

Among the dead were three journalists and 18 children, according to medical sources, after Israeli warplanes struck a tent encampment sheltering displaced Palestinians in al-Mawasi, near Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Verified footage shared by Al Jazeera shows charred bodies lying in the sand, including several children, with some on fire.

Hamas condemned the bombing as a “brutal crime” and accused the United States of complicity for providing political and military backing to Israel.A Civil Defence spokesman said that more than 200 people are missing under rubble, but emergency teams are unable to access the areas due to continued Israeli strikes.

“Hundreds of families have been erased from the civil registry due to the Israeli bombing,” he said. “Those who do not die from Israeli bombing in Gaza die of hunger.”

Israel has repeatedly targeted hospitals in its genocide, claiming Hamas operates within medical facilities.

But human rights organisations and UN experts have accused Israel of systematically dismantling Gaza’s health infrastructure.

…

Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/135-people-killed-gaza-israel-announces-extensive-ground-operations

UK Labour Party government Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are participants and complicit in Israel's Gaza genocide providing Israel with army and air force support. They explain that they don't do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
UK Labour Party government Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are participants and complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide providing Israel with army and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
Vote For Genocide Vote Labour.
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Continue Reading135 people killed in Gaza as Israel announces extensive ground operations