At Least 6 Palestinian Babies Freeze To Death As Gaza Families Look For Shelter

Palestinians, especially children, are trying to survive Gaza's winter without sturdy tents, warm clothes, heating or electricity.

At least six Palestinian newborn babies have recently died from extreme cold in Gaza, as families try to survive the winter with virtually no shelter, no heating and an insufficient amount of humanitarian assistance.

The Friends of the Patient Charity Hospital received nine cases over the past two weeks of premature infants experiencing breathing difficulties, blood circulation failure, low blood pressure and some organ dysfunction caused by the harsh weather, hospital director Saeed Salah said Monday. When the babies arrived at the hospital’s neonatal unit, Salah said their body temperatures were below 34 degrees Celsius — in other words, hypothermic.

“We treated these infants immediately, following the established protocol for cold injury,” the doctor told Middle East Eye. “However, while we managed to save some cases, we were unable to save others. This was due to their critically low body [temperature] or because they arrived too late.”

Out of the nine babies, five of them died. Three of the remaining infants were treated and discharged to their families, while one remains on a ventilator receiving critical support as medical workers stabilize blood pressure. Separately, another infant died from the cold Tuesday morning — this time in southern Gaza, while inside her family’s tent.

The five infants who passed at the hospital had come from north Gaza, which until the current ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas had been walled off from humanitarian assistance as Israeli forces turned the region — from families’ homes to hospitals — into rubble. Displaced Palestinians have begun to return north, but have little to no shelter and no heat in the middle of a cold, rainy winter.