Six babies have died cold in two weeks, doctors say

At least six babies have died in the last two weeks in Gaza due to the cold climate and the lack of appropriate shelter and heating, the Palestinian doctors and health officials say.

The doctors of the Hospital of the Benevolent Society of Friends of the patient in the city of Gaza, in the north, said they had admitted nine newborn babies that suffered cold injuries, five of which had died, with another in critical state.

The family of a two -month -old girl also said that he had died due to the cold near the southern city of Khan Younis during the night.

The PFBS hospital requested the urgent delivery of caravans and fuel to improve the conditions of estimates 945,000 displaced Palestinians living in improvised tents and shelters.

The Palestinian armed group Hamas has accused Israel for not allowing amounts agreed on tents, caravans and other shelter supplies for a high fire that began five weeks ago. Israel has denied this.

Most of the population of 2.1 million Gaza has been displaced several times during the 16 -month war between Israel and Hamas and it is estimated that almost 70% of buildings in the territory are damaged or destroyed.

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

According to weather websites, the night temperature in Gaza has fallen regularly below 10 ° C (50F) in the last two weeks.

He fell to 3C (37F) on Monday night, after the medical director of the PFBS hospital, Dr. Saeed Salah, had warned in a video that three babies suffering from cold injuries, including hypothermia, had died during The same period.

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

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

“The last weeks (we had) nine newborns in our hospital. And they came with the case that they call ‘cold injuries’ or hypothermia,” said Dr. Lubad to Al Jazeera TV.

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

He added: “Of course, this condition is due to cold climate and lack of safe shelters, the lack of central heating and the lack of electricity in the gaza strip.”

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

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

He said she had been healthy and that her mother had found her “rigid like the wood of the cold” when he tried to wake her up for feeding during the night inside the family store in the Al-Mawasi area.

Dr. Muneer Al-Bours, General Director of the Ministry of Health of Hamas-Run in Gaza, said in a statement that a total of 15 children had died due to the cold since the beginning of winter.

He also claimed that Israel “had not complied with the humanitarian protocols, including allowing medical equipment, heating supplies, tents and mobile houses” since the high fire began on January 19.

Hamas has said previously that Israel should allow in approximately 300,000 tents and 60,000 caravans during the first phase of the six -week agreement.

The Israeli Military Corps said that Israel was “committed and complies with the obligation to allow the entry of 4,200 humanitarian aid trucks per week” in Gaza, including those that transport tents and refuge supplies.

“According to the data available for us, hundreds of thousands of tents have entered the Gaza Strip since the agreement entered into force,” he added.

It occurs in the middle of the continuous uncertainty about whether the high fire will continue last Saturday, when the first phase of the expire agreement.

On Sunday, Israel postponed the release of some 600 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in exchange for 10 hostages that Hamas had delivered, accusing the group of cynically using their hostages for propaganda purposes.

Hamas accused Israel of a “flagrant” violation of the agreement and said that indirect conversations on more steps, even in the second phase of the agreement, were conditioned to the prisoners being released.

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

At least 48,348 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Ministry of Health of the Territory.