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On a sunny street in shattered , the bundle containing Zainab Abu Halib's remains represented the latest child deaths from starvation after 21 months of war and Israeli restrictions on aid.

The baby was brought to the pediatric department of Nasser Hospital on Friday. She was already dead. A worker at the morgue carefully removed her Mickey Mouse-printed shirt, pulling it over her sunken, open eyes. He pulled up the hems of her pants to show her knobby knees. His thumb was wider than her ankle. He could count the bones of her chest.

The girl weighed 6.6 pounds when she was born, her mother said. When she died, she weighed less than 4.4 pounds.

A doctor said it was a case of "severe, severe starvation."

She was wrapped in a white sheet for burial and placed on the sandy ground for prayers. The bundle was barely wider than the imam's stance. He raised his open hands and invoked Allah once more.

She needed special formula

Zainab was one of 85 children who died of malnutrition-related causes in Gaza during the war, according to the latest toll the territory’s Health Ministry released Saturday. It said 127 people died of malnutrition-related causes overall, with the adult deaths counted in just the past few weeks.

"She needed a special baby formula which did not exist in Gaza," Zainab's father, Ahmed Abu Halib, told The Associated Press as he prepared for her funeral prayers in the hospital's courtyard in the southern city of Khan Younis.

Dr. Ahmed al-Farah, head of the pediatric department, said the girl needed a special type of formula that helps with babies allergic to cow's milk.

He said she hadn't suffered from any diseases, but the lack of the formula led to chronic diarrhea and vomiting. She wasn't able to swallow as her weakened immune system led to a bacterial infection and sepsis, and she quickly lost more weight.

'Many will follow'

The child's family, like many of Gaza's Palestinians, lives in a tent, displaced. Her mother, who also has suffered from malnutrition, said she breastfed the girl for only six weeks before trying to feed her formula.

"With my daughter's death, many will follow," she said. "Their names are on a list that no one looks at. They are just names and numbers. We are just numbers. Our children, whom we carried for nine months and then gave birth to, have become just numbers." Her loose robe hid her own weight loss.

The arrival of children suffering from malnutrition surged in recent weeks, al-Farah said. His department, with a capacity of eight beds, has been treating about 60 cases of acute malnutrition. Staff placed additional mattresses on the ground.

Another malnutrition clinic, affiliated with the hospital, receives an average of 40 cases weekly, he said.

"Unless the (border) crossings are opened and food and baby formula are allowed in for this vulnerable segment of Palestinian society, we will witness unprecedented numbers of deaths," he warned.

Doctors and aid workers in Gaza blame Israel's restrictions on the entry of aid and medical supplies. Food security experts warn of famine in the territory of over 2 million people.

'Shortage of everything'

Much of Gaza's population relies on aid.

After ending the latest ceasefire in March, Israel cut off the entry of food, medicine, fuel and other supplies completely to Gaza for 2½ months, saying it aimed to pressure Hamas to release hostages.

Under international pressure, Israel slightly eased the blockade in May. Since then, it allowed in about 4,500 trucks for the U.N. and other aid groups to distribute, including 2,500 tons of baby food and high-calorie special food for children, Israel's Foreign Ministry said in recent days. Israel says , plus formula for special needs.

The average of 69 trucks a day, however, is far below the 500 to 600 trucks a day the U.N. says are needed for Gaza. Of the supplies that do get in, the U.N. says it was unable to distribute much of the aid because hungry crowds and gangs take most of it from its arriving trucks.

Separately, Israel backed the , which in May opened four centers distributing boxes of food supplies. by Israeli forces since May while trying to get food, mostly near those new aid sites, the U.N. human rights office says.

"There was a shortage of everything," the mother of Zainab said as she grieved. "How can a girl like her recover?"