Gaza is running out of baby formula needed for infants

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(25 Jun 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Khan Younis, Gaza Strip – 19 June 2025
1. Wide of Seham Fawzy Khodeir, mother of newborn premature baby Hisham al-Lahham, watching as her son lies inside an incubator in Nasser Medical Hospital
2. Various of nurses attaching tube to Al-Lahham’s hand
3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Seham Fawzy Khodeir, mother of newborn premature baby:
++PART OVERLAID BY SHOTS 2 AND 4++
“There is no milk, and he needs medicine to get better, to improve, to live, to see life. We are in a difficult situation. We are under siege. I complain to God about everyone who caused us to reach this situation. I wish I could hold my son, see him, breastfeed him and put him on my chest."
4. Various of incubators
5. Mid of premature formula being checked
6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Dr. Ahmed al-Farah, Nasser Hospital's Obstetrics Department:
++PART OVERLAID BY SHOT 7++
“Now, we are sounding the alarm. We now have premature babies, meaning babies born prematurely who need a special milk. This milk is called premature formula. If this milk is not available to these babies, they will face an inevitable disaster.”
7. Newborn baby being fed with premature formula
8. Various of hospital’s generators room
9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Dr. Mohammad Saqer, director of nursing at Nasser Medical Complex:
++PART OVERLAID BY SHOT 10++
"The situation here is terrifying, immoral, and inhumane. Regarding the fuel issue, we are experiencing a real crisis. What is currently available is only enough for a few days, after which the power will be cut off at the Nasser Medical Complex. For your information, inside Nasser Medical Complex, there are approximately 45 intensive care patients, in addition to 25 paediatric intensive care patients. We're talking about approximately 70 patients who would lose their lives in the event of a power outage."
10. Various of injured people in intensive care ward
11. Hospital entrance
STORYLINE:
Seham Fawzy Khodeir watched her son lying inside a dilapidated incubator and listens to his faint cry, mixed with the muted sound of the equipment.

The mother of six is increasingly concerned about the survival of Hisham al-Lahham, who was just days old and breathing with the help of equipment and being fed through a tube in his tiny nose.

Most alarmingly, the medical-grade formula he needs to survive is running out.

“There is no milk,” the 24-year-old mother told The Associated Press. He needs it to "to get better, to live and to see life.”

Hisham is among 580 premature babies at risk of death from starvation across the war-battered Gaza Strip, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Khodeir and others blame Israel’s blockade for the plight of their children.

Doctors say that although some formula has been delivered, the situation is dire.

“We are sounding the alarm,” said Dr. Ahmed al-Farah, head of the pediatrics and obstetrics department at Nasser Hospital, the main medical facility still partially functional in southern Gaza.

"If this milk is not available to these babies, they will face an inevitable disaster.”

Their desperation comes as the war in Gaza has been overshadowed by the Israel-Iran war.

Khodeir's son is one of 10 babies in incubators at Nasser's neonatal intensive care unit.

The hospital recently received a delivery of 20 boxes of formula sent by a U.S. aid group, Rahma Worldwide after warning that supplies had become completely depleted.

But the delivery was only enough to cover the needs of the 10 infants for up to two weeks, according to al-Farah.



















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