Newborn dies in Gaza due to extreme cold

A Palestinian baby has died in the besieged Gaza Strip, local authorities said. The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said on Tuesday (December 16) that two-week-old baby Mohammed Khalil Abu al-Khair died after being treated for hypothermia due to extreme cold in Gaza.
Al Jazeera reported that the baby’s death was due to the systematic breakdown of basic security measures in Gaza due to Israel’s war on the Palestinians. It added that “families are living in tents on wet ground, with no heating, no electricity and insufficient clothing. When food, fuel, shelter and aid are all denied, the cold becomes deadly.”
The two-year Israeli war has destroyed more than 80 percent of the structures across Gaza, forcing millions of families to take refuge in flimsy tents or overcrowded makeshift shelters. At least 11 people have been killed in the valley in recent storms, as heavy rain and winds have flooded and damaged tents, causing them to collapse.
“We are trying to dry children’s clothes over the fire,” displaced Palestinian mother Umm Mohammed Asaliya told Al Jazeera from Gaza City. “There are no extra clothes for the boys and girls. The tents we were given cannot withstand the cold. We need blankets,” she said.
But the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which the UN considers to be best placed to distribute supplies to the region, says the Israeli government has cut off direct aid to Gaza. “People have died in collapsed damaged buildings where families were sheltering. Children have also reportedly died from exposure to the cold,” the agency said in a social media post yesterday.