Medical officials in Gaza confirmed the deaths late Monday night, warning that children, especially newborns and babies, are at risk given the lack of proper shelter and medical aid.
Dr. Saeed Salah, medical director at the Friends of the Patient Charitable Hospital, reported the deaths of three newborns within hours of their admission.
The newborns, one and two-day-olds weighing 1.7-2 kilogrammes, succumbed to severe hypothermia. Three other infants remain in critical condition at the hospital.
In Khan Younis, 60-day-old Sham Yusuf Al-Shambari died inside her tent due to the harsh winter conditions. Two additional children also perished, bringing the total number of cold-related child fatalities in the last 24 hours to six.
Dr. Ahmed Al-Farah, head of the pediatric department at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, told AP that the hospital also treated two infants for frostbite, one of whom was later discharged.
The situation in Gaza has become increasingly desperate as the strip faces its coldest winter in years. The weather forecast indicated that while the temperature in Gaza last night was five degrees Celsius, it reached an all-time low of one degree Celsius post-midnight.
Meteorologists warn that temperatures could plummet to near-freezing levels, posing severe risks to displaced Palestinians, of which there are nearly two million, and their most precarious: children and the elderly. Strong winds and heavy rainfall threaten further damage fragile structures and increase the risk of flooding.
A powerful cold front, Coral, is sweeping across the eastern Mediterranean, bringing freezing temperatures, strong winds, and snowfall to parts of Palestine, Israel, and the wider region. The storm, which originated from the North Pole, is expected to persist into early next week, worsening Gaza’s already catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
In November 2023, only one month into Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) stated that Gaza is “[world’s] most dangerous place for children.” The genocide is now heading into its 16th month, and Gazan children are facing slower and more painful deaths than carpet-bombing.
It is worth noting that Gazan newborns have previously frozen to death, or rather, the Israeli blockade on the besieged city since 7 October 2023 killed them. According to a United Nations (UN) report in January, eight Palestinian newborns froze to death over 48 hours, while 74 children died of harsh winter conditions in December.
The sight of their newborns, brought to life under unimaginable conditions, succumbing to the cold in the war-ravaged strip is among the many reasons why Gazans celebrated the news of the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt, Qatar, and the US coming into effect. The initial phase of the ceasefire agreement requires Israel to permit the entry of 60,000 temporary homes and 200,000 tents, along with rubble removal equipment, into Gaza during the first 42-day phase, which should have helped shelter Gazans and their children.
However, Israel continues to violate the fragile truce by letting aid trucks trickle into the strip, with only 10 percent of the promised tents entered, leaving hundreds of thousands homeless as cold weather intensifies.
The blockade is also preventing the rehabilitation of Gaza’s destroyed hospitals, leading to severe shortages of medical personnel, generators, fuel, and oxygen supplies.
Throughout the 15-month genocidal war, the Israeli occupation forces intentionally destroyed most neonatal intensive care units (NICU) in Gaza, which is one of the main reasons why newborns continue freezing to death. There are no incubators to house them.
Before the outbreak of the genocide, Gaza’s hospitals had eight (NICU) with 178 incubators, which were insufficient to meet the high demand for specialized newborn care. According to a UNICEF statement in November, the total number of incubators in the strip has declined by 70 per cent, accounting for approximately 54 incubators.
Today, three of these NICU units in northern Gaza are inoperable, with functional incubators dropping from 105 to just nine, all at Kamal Adwan Hospital.
“At least 4,000 babies are estimated to have been cut off from lifesaving newborn care in the past year because of sustained attacks on the hospitals earnestly trying to keep them alive, because electricity supply has been cut off and because the little fuel delivered to power hospitals is woefully inadequate,” reads the statement.
At least 6,000 newborn babies need intensive care in the Gaza Strip every year. However, doctors are telling UNICEF that the proportion of babies born premature, undernourished, or with developmental issues and other health complications has risen as the war impacts their fetal development, birth, and care.
The over-year-long blockade on food and other humanitarian aid to the strip meant that pregnant and lactating mothers lacked sufficient nutritious food, resulting in increased preterm births and starvation. In a February 2024 report, UNICEF revealed that 95 percent of pregnant or breastfeeding women in the strip face "severe food poverty."
Food poverty only intensified Palestinian women’s plight, as many had to endure the pain of childbirth inside destroyed hospitals, in tattered tents, and on the streets - without mattresses, blankets, epidurals, or even aspirins.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini previously criticized Israel’s ongoing blockade, stating that “blankets, mattresses, and other winter supplies have been stuck in the region for months, waiting for approval to enter Gaza.”
As Gaza’s humanitarian crisis deepens, the lives of thousands of children and displaced families remain at grave risk. The urgent need for food, medical care, and shelter grows more dire by the day, yet the international response remains inadequate in the face of Israel’s continued restrictions.
Short link: