Palestinian five-month-old Zainab Abu Haleeb’s frail body was wrapped in shrouds for her burial on Saturday (July 26) after she died of severe acute malnutrition, according to the doctor.

Zainab was born as a full-term baby with no medical condition, head of the paediatrics department in Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, Ahmed al-Farra, said, before she had a condition that required extensive hydrolysed formula that wasn't available in Gaza.

The infant's condition continued to worsen, Al-Farra explained, with vomiting and diarrhoea that led to dehydration. She was also infected with sepsis.

The WHO said on Wednesday (July 23) that 21 children under the age of five were among those who died of malnutrition so far this year.

Gaza's food stocks have been running out since Israel, at war with Palestinian militant group Hamas since October 2023, cut off all supplies to the territory in March, lifting that blockade in May but with restrictions that it says are needed to prevent aid being diverted to militant groups.

As a result, international aid agencies say that only a trickle of what is needed, including medicine, is currently reaching people in Gaza.

Israel says it is committed to allowing in aid but must control it to prevent it from being diverted by militants. It says it has let enough food into Gaza during the war and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza's 2.2 million people.

The Gaza health ministry said on Thursday (July 24) that the total number of people who have starved to death has increased to 113, most of them in recent weeks as a wave of hunger crashes on the Palestinian enclave.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

VARIOUS OF 5-MONTH-OLD INFANT ZAINAB ABU HALEEB IN GAZA WHO DIED OF SEVERE MALNUTRITION ACCORDING TO THE DOCTOR /PARENTS OF ZAINAB SPEAKING ABOUT THEIR DAUGHTER / HEAD OF THE PAEDIATRICS DEPARTMENT AT NASSER HOSPITAL, AHMED AL-FARRA, SPEAKING ABOUT ZAINAB'S CASE / VARIOUS OF FUNERAL OF ZAINAB

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT

GRAPHIC WARNING: THIS STORY CONTAINS IMAGES OF A DEAD INFANT. REUTERS WAS GIVEN PERMISSION BY ZAINAB ABU HALEEB'S FAMILY TO FILM HER BODY

SHOWS: KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA (JULY 26, 2025) (REUTERS – Access all)

1. VARIOUS OF FIVE-MONTH-OLD GAZAN BABY ZAINAB ABU HALEEB WHO DIED OF MALNUTRITION

2. ZAINAB’S FATHER, AHMED ABU HALEEB, CARRYING HER BODY SHROUDED IN WHITE SHEET

3. ZAINAB’S MOTHER, ISRAA ABU HALEEB, KISSING HER BABY, CRYING

4. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MOTHER OF FIVE-MONTH-OLD GAZAN BABY ZAINAB ABU HALEEB WHO DIED OF MALNUTRITION, ISRAA ABU HALEEB, SAYING:

“I have been in the hospital for three months to no avail. This is how she looked before being sick, her picture before the illness and this is the referral, ready, but no one listens. We had a lot of appeals and the girl suffered a lot while sick, malnutrition, lack of formula milk and the closure of the border crossings, all against the people. There are a lot of children like her case, also malnutrition. Here we are waiting here for her body to come out. Three months inside the hospital and this is what I get in return, that she is dead.”

5. ZAINAB’S MOTHER CARRYING HER WHILE SHROUDED IN WHITE SHEET, KISSING HER FACE

6. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MOTHER OF FIVE-MONTH-OLD GAZAN BABY ZAINAB ABU HALEEB WHO DIED OF MALNUTRITION, ISRAA ABU HALEEB, SAYING:

“If she had enough nutrition, at five months, she would have been able to sit up or grow, but it hasn’t happened. My children that I had before the war, God bless, at five months they started to sit and I was happy with them but she didn’t, she just lied in bed.”

7. VARIOUS OF ZAINAB’S MOTHER CARRYING THE PICTURE OF HER DAUGHTER BEFORE HER ILLNESS / ZAINAB’S FATHER CARRYING HER BODY WRAPPED IN WHITE SHEET

8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF THE PAEDIATRICS DEPARTMENT AT NASSER HOSPITAL, AHMED AL-FARRA, SAYING:

“She was full term, she wasn't complaining from any disease. Unfortunately, Zainab was in need for extensive hydrolysed formula which wasn't available in the ministry of health and she, as a complication of lack of milk, she got vomiting and diarrhoea. This is make (has led to) a lot of dehydration for her case and she gotten severe acute malnutrition. This severe acute malnutrition made here prone and susceptible for infection. She got also infection in the blood, what we call sepsis, and this aggravated the condition. This is make for her difficulty in swallowing and unfortunately she died at home or a tent where the family is evacuated due to severe malnutrition.”

9. VARIOUS OF CHILDREN, MOTHERS IN HOSPITAL WARD

10. (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF THE PAEDIATRICS DEPARTMENT AT NASSER HOSPITAL, AHMED AL-FARRA, SAYING:

“Unfortunately, the malnutrition cases increased in numbers. We have the statistics of ministry of health that nearly 124 patients died due to severe malnutrition or severe acute malnutrition and nearly 84 of them were paediatric or children.”

11. PEOPLE WALKING IN HOSPITAL CORRIDOR

12. ZAINAB’S MOTHER CARRYING PICTURE OF HER DAUGHTER

13. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FATHER OF FIVE-MONTH-OLD GAZAN BABY ZAINAB ABU HALEEB WHO DIED OF MALNUTRITION, AHMED ABU HALEEB, SAYING:

“The entire pregnancy time, we were staying in a tent inside a farm, a poultry farm, malnutrition, tough weather conditions and lack of food. All of these were negative conditions that affected my daughter, and lack of nutrition. My daughter is five months old, we suffered (to find) formula milk and the medication. The medication is not available in Gaza.”

14. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE PRAYING FUNERAL PRAYERS FOR BABY ZAINAB

15. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FATHER OF FIVE-MONTH-OLD GAZAN BABY ZAINAB ABU HALEEB WHO DIED OF MALNUTRITION, AHMED ABU HALEEB, SAYING:

“She needed special kind of formula milk because she had chronic diarrhoea and bowel problems. The special kind of formula milk is not available in Gaza, we gave her anything as an alternative, but to no avail, that hasn’t solved the problem. We also needed special tests, the head of the department (at the hospital) told me we needed special tests, and this test wasn’t available.”

16. VARIOUS OF ZAINAB’S FATHER CARRYING HER BODY SHROUDED IN WHITE SHEET

17. PEOPLE WALKING ON STREET