Five babies die of hypothermia in Gaza in recent hours

At least five babies have died of hypothermia in recent hours in Gaza, which has been hit by a wave of polar cold, according to the Wafa news agency, citing health sources. The director of the Friends of the Patient charity hospital, Saeed Salah, told the Sanad agency that four of the deceased (three of them just two months old) died in Gaza City "due to the intense cold and lack of shelter" a few hours after their hospitalization early this morning.

“They arrived with a very low temperature, as if they were blocks of ice, and suffered a drop in blood circulation, which affects the entire respiratory process, as well as the functioning of the kidneys, liver and brain,” he said. Salah also reported the death of a fifth baby early on Tuesday, identified as Sham Yousef Al Shambari, just over a month old, who died inside his tent in the humanitarian zone of Al Mawasi, in the south of the Strip.

The head of the Pediatrics Department at Nasser Hospital, Ahmed al-Farra, has warned that the number of deaths among newborn babies will continue to rise , as they cannot withstand the drop in temperatures without “heating, blankets and clothing.” In addition, Wafa has reported that at least three other babies are in critical condition due to the intense cold. Despite the ceasefire, the majority of the Gazan population continues to live in tents or makeshift shelters surrounded by rubble, without heating or sufficient resources to cope with these low temperatures.

In this regard, the director of the Government Media Office of the enclave, Ismail Al Thawabtah, has asked in a statement to the mediators and the international community to adopt “urgent measures to provide mobile homes as temporary shelter for the more than 280,000 Palestinian families who lost their homes” as well as the entry of “fuel to provide heat and protect innocent children”. Since January, at least a dozen babies have died in the Strip of hypothermia, according to figures from the Palestinian authorities. Many of these deaths have occurred in Al Mawasi, crowded with displaced people who also live in tents after having been left homeless by Israeli bombing.