In the heart of Gaza’s displacement camps, a haunting scene repeats itself: hungry infants crying for milk that no longer exists. With baby formula completely vanished from shelves and hospitals under Israel’s continued blockade, desperate mothers have turned to feeding their children diluted lentil broth, an act of love born of despair.

“I had no choice,” said Du’aa Shouha, holding her toddler in a tattered tent. “At first, I feared the effect on her tiny body. But what else can we do?” Her voice trembles as she explains how she boils lentils, waters down the broth, and pours it into a bottle. “It fills her stomach, but it’s no substitute for milk. We are creating life from nothing, just to survive.”

Hospitals across Gaza warn of an approaching catastrophe. Premature babies, malnourished infants, and those in neonatal units face deadly risks as therapeutic milk supplies run out. According to the World Health Organization, over 100 children are admitted to Gaza hospitals every day showing signs of hunger and undernutrition.

Walaa al-Sarsawi, another mother, described the anguish of deceiving her child with lentil water. “He cries for milk,” she said, in tears. “I give him lentils. He drinks, thinking it’s what he needs. Every time I fill that bottle, it feels like a knife to my heart.”

At least 66 children have already died from malnutrition, according to Gaza’s local authorities. The blockade, in place since early March, has choked off food, medicine, and basic humanitarian aid, plunging the population into famine.

As the world watches, Gaza’s mothers are left with impossible choices and empty hands. “How many more children must die,” Walaa asks, “before baby milk is no longer a weapon of war?”