DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (news agencies) — At least six infants have died from hypothermia in the last two weeks in the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of people are living in tent camps and war-damaged buildings during a fragile ceasefire, Palestinian medics said Tuesday.
The coastal territory experiences cold, wet winters, with temperatures dropping below 10 degrees Celsius (50 F) at night and storms blowing in from the Mediterranean Sea. The last few days have been especially cold.
Yusuf al-Shinbari woke up in his family’s tent just after midnight on Tuesday to find that his 2-month-old daughter, Sham, was cold to the touch. He could feel no heartbeat.
“Yesterday, I was playing with her,” he said. “I was happy with her. She was a beautiful child, like the moon.”
Dr. Ahmed al-Farah, the head of the pediatric department at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, where her body was taken, said she did not have any illness but died from severe cold because she was in a tent. He said the hospital treated another two infants for frostbite.
Saeed Salah, of the Patient’s Friends Hospital in Gaza City, said five infants aged one month or younger have died from the cold over the last two weeks, including a 1-month-old who died on Monday. He said another child has been placed on a ventilator.
Zaher al-Wahedi, head of the Gaza Health Ministry’s records department, said it has recorded 15 deaths from hypothermia this winter, all of them children.
The ceasefire that paused 16 months of war between Israel and Hamas militants has allowed a surge in humanitarian aid, mainly food, but residents say there are still shortages of blankets and warm clothing, and little wood available for fires.
There’s been no central electricity in Gaza since the first few days of the war, and fuel for generators is scarce. Many families huddle on damp sand or bare concrete.
“It’s incredibly cold,” Rosalia Bollen, a spokesperson for the United Nations children’s agency, said earlier this month. “I have no clue how people can sleep at night in their makeshift tents.”
Israel’s military offensive, launched in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack, was among the deadliest and most destructive in recent history. It pounded large areas of Gaza into rubble. The hundreds of thousands of people who have been able to return to northern Gaza under the ceasefire have settled wherever they can amid the ruins.
The ceasefire’s first phase will end on Saturday and may not be extended. If fighting resumes, the current flow of humanitarian aid is expected to drop dramatically.
Even if the truce endures, it’s unclear when anything in Gaza will be rebuilt. The World Bank has estimated the cost of reconstruction at over $50 billion, and it could take years just to clear the rubble.
Israel blames the destruction on Hamas because the militants positioned tunnels, rocket launchers and other military infrastructure in residential areas.
Hamas has accused Israel of delaying the entry of mobile homes and tents in violation of the ceasefire. Israel denies the allegations and accuses Hamas of violating the agreement. Israel held up the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners last weekend to protest Hamas’ practice of parading hostages before crowds in public spectacles during their release.
Hamas-led fighters killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack and abducted around 250 hostages. Over 60 are still held in Gaza, around half believed to be dead.
Israel’s air and ground war has killed over 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It does not say how many of those killed were militants. Israel says it killed over 17,000 fighters but has not provided evidence.
Magdy reported from Cairo.
This version corrects the last name of the father who lost his 2-month-old daughter to al-Shinbari.
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