He Ministry of Health of the Gaza Strip reported this Sunday of the death of a two-month-old baby due to extreme coldwhich brings the total number of child deaths to four due to hypothermia since the beginning of winter.
The two-month-old baby, identified as Mohamed Abu Harbiddied in Gaza City last night in the middle of a sharp drop in temperatures and due “to the lack of heating, lack of safe shelters and shortage of blankets and winter clothing.”
Furthermore, the Gaza Government’s media office reported that with this latest death the total number of deaths due to extreme cold since the beginning of the Israeli offensive in October 2023has risen to 21, including 18 minorsall of them displaced in the improvised camps with precarious tentswhich do not protect them from the cold and rain.
The cold claims victims among the most vulnerable population
In this sense, the Gazan Government recalled in a statement that these figures describe ““the humanitarian disaster that threatens the lives of the most vulnerable groups”and that “without urgent intervention”, the number of deaths from cold will continue to growespecially among minors, the chronically ill and the elderly.
“We hold the Israeli occupation fully and directly responsible for these crimes and their deadly consequences, as they are an extension of the policies of slow killing, famine and displacement“he adds in his statement.
Since the end of November, lTemperatures have plummeted in Gaza In addition to the fact that several have been registered strong storms with rain and windas happened this past Thursday, flooding tents and damaging the clothes, blankets and belongings of the Palestinians.
With a Gaza devastated by the Israeli bombingsa large part of the Palestinian population is forced to continue living poorly in tents while the UN asks the Israeli Government to allow the entry of prefabricated houses that can shelter and protect Gazans from the harsh climatic conditions.
