Six babies have died from cold in Gaza over two weeks, medics say

At least six babies have died in the past two weeks in Gaza due to the cold weather and lack of adequate shelter and heating, Palestinian medics and health officials say.

Doctors at the Patient's Friends Benevolent Society hospital in Gaza City, in the north, said nine newborn babies suffering from cold injuries had been admitted, five of whom had died, with one other in a critical condition.

The family of a two-month-old girl also said she had died due to the cold near the southern city of Khan Younis overnight.

The PFBS hospital called for the urgent delivery of caravans and fuel to improve conditions for the estimated 945,000 displaced Palestinians living in tents and makeshift shelters.

The Palestinian armed group Hamas has accused Israel of failing to allow in agreed amounts of tents, caravans and other shelter supplies during a ceasefire that began five weeks ago. Israel has denied this.

Most of Gaza's 2.1 million population has been displaced multiple times during the 16-month war between Israel and Hamas and almost 70% of buildings in the territory are estimated to be damaged or destroyed.

The healthcare system has also collapsed, with only 18 of the 35 hospitals partially functional and shortages of essential medical equipment.

According to meteorological websites, the night-time temperature in Gaza has regularly fallen below 10C (50F) over the past two weeks.

It dropped to 3C (37F) on Monday night, after the PFBS hospital's medical director Dr Saeed Salah had warned in a video that three babies suffering from cold injuries, including hypothermia, had died over the same period.

He said the babies were only one or two days old, and had weighed between 1.7kg and 2kg (3.7-4.4lbs).

On Tuesday, Dr Salah and a paediatrician at the hospital, Dr Samer Lubad, reported that another two newborns had died.

"The last several weeks we [had] nine neonates in our hospital. And they came with case that they call 'cold injury' or hypothermia," Dr Lubad told Al Jazeera TV.

"Three babies survived and were treated successfully and discharged home. There is still one baby in our neonatal ICU in a critical general condition."

He added: "Of course, this condition is because of the cold weather and lack of safe shelters, lack of central heating, and lack of electricity in the Gaza Strip."

Meanwhile, the head of the paediatric department at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis told the Associated Press that it had received the body of a two-month-old girl who had died of hypothermia on Tuesday.

A video posted by a local journalist appeared to show the girl being buried by her father and uncle, who said she was named Sham Yousef al-Shambari.

He said she had been healthy and that her mother had found her "stiff as wood from the cold" when she tried to wake her for feeding during the night inside the family's tent in the al-Mawasi area.

Dr Muneer al-Boursh, director general of the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, said in a statement a total of 15 children had died due to the cold since the start of the winter.

He also alleged that Israel had "failed to comply with humanitarian protocols, including allowing the entry of medical equipment, heating supplies, tents, and mobile homes" since the ceasefire began on 19 January.

Hamas has previously said that Israel was required to allow in about 300,000 tents and 60,000 caravans during the six-week-long first phase of the deal.

Israeli military body Cogat said Israel was "committed to and complies with the obligation to allow the entry of 4,200 humanitarian aid trucks per week" into Gaza, including those carrying tents and shelter supplies.

"Based on the data available to us, hundreds of thousands of tents have entered the Gaza Strip since the agreement came into effect," it added.

It comes amid continued uncertainty over whether the ceasefire will continue past Saturday, when the deal's first phase is set to expire.

On Sunday, Israel postponed the release of some 600 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in exchange for 10 hostages who had been handed over by Hamas, accusing the group of cynically using its hostages for propaganda purposes.

Hamas accused Israel of a "blatant" violation of the deal and said indirect talks about further steps, including on the deal's second phase, were conditional on the prisoners being released.

The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

At least 48,348 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.