Six infants die of hypothermia in Gaza

Six infants die of hypothermia in Gaza

Six babies have arrived in Gaza since Sunday Hypothermia died. Health officials in the Gaza Strip warn that more deaths are at risk unless more humanitarian aid reaches the enclave.

Warning of a disaster

Dr. Saeed Salah, medical director of the Patient's Friends Benevolent Society Hospital (PFBS) in northern Gaza, called it a "catastrophe" due to the increasing number of infants suffering from hypothermia as they try to survive Gaza's winter conditions. In the last two weeks, eight babies with hypothermia have been admitted to the medical center in Gaza City. Three of them were transferred to intensive care and three others died “within hours” of their arrival.

Necessary help for the population

On Tuesday, a fourth baby, just 69 days old, died overnight, Dr. Salah. Two more babies with symptoms of hypothermia died at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, health workers there told reporters. Dr. Salah stressed that more caravans, tents and fuel are needed to bring heat to people. Such tools could prevent this type of “disaster” from happening again and stop newborn deaths from hypothermia and frostbite.

The human cost of conflict

A fragile ceasefire offers the people of Gaza a brief respite from Israel's months-long military campaign launched in response to Hamas' Oct. 7 terror attacks that killed more than 1,200 people in Israel and took over 250 hostage. According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, at least 48,348 Palestinians were killed and another 111,761 people were injured.

Destruction of medical infrastructure

Survivors report struggling to rebuild their communities and cope with the destruction caused by the conflict, which has severely affected the health system and sparked a crisis of famine, displacement and disease. According to that UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Of 35 hospitals, only 20 are partially functional.

Accusations against Israel

Hamas has repeatedly accused Israel of preventing humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip in violation of the terms of the ceasefire - allegations Israel denies. On February 14, COGAT announced that 4,200 humanitarian aid trucks had arrived in the Gaza Strip this week, carrying food, fuel, medical supplies, tents and shelter equipment. A total of 16,800 aid trucks have arrived in Gaza since the ceasefire began on January 19, COGAT added.

The individual tragedy of affected families

At Nasser Hospital, a Palestinian mother gently stroked her tiny, pale baby wrapped in blankets. Two-month-old Yousaf Al-Najjar is one of many newborns being treated there for hypothermia. A CNN video from the hospital showed the mother trying to check the temperature of her baby, who she said had become "a skeleton." The family is staying in a tent nearby, along with at least 15 other relatives.

Life in tents and the cold

"I put my lips on his face and his feet and they froze," she told CNN. "Children are being brought in dead because of the cold. We don't have blankets or anything," she added. “I see death in my son.” Baby Yousaf was born prematurely. Dr. Fida'a Al-Nadi, a pediatrician at Nasser Hospital, explained that his weight of two kilograms made him more susceptible to hypothermia. “Every day we have to deal with children suffering from hypothermia, many of them die,” she said. "The problem is not the hospital; it is the conditions in which the children live, either in tents or in destroyed houses."

The effects of the conflict on the population

Israel's war in Gaza has affected many Palestinians Camp urged. According to the U.N. At least 1.9 million people have been displaced. Many have sought refuge in vast open spaces and have been living in makeshift tents made of fabric and nylon for months - with little access to heat, electricity or heating. In the cold weather conditions, newborns and children up to three months of age are most at risk for respiratory illnesses, blood supply damage and infections, Dr. Munir Al-Bursh, director general of the Ministry of Health in the enclave, on February 19.

A call to improve humanitarian aid

Fikr Shalltoot, the Gaza director of the British NGO Medical Aid for Palestinians, said the deaths of the six Palestinian babies were "the direct result of Israel's restrictions on humanitarian aid." "Newborns should not die from hypothermia in Gaza. This is not a tragedy of nature, but a man-made crisis," Shalltoot said in a statement to CNN on Tuesday. “If sufficient relief supplies, including shelter materials, had reached civilians and hospitals, these deaths would have been entirely avoidable.”