Gaza (Quds News Network)- A newborn Palestinian baby died Monday morning from the extreme cold in Gaza, becoming the sixth infant to freeze to death in recent nights. His twin brother had died from the cold the day before, as the ongoing Israeli siege worsened the harsh winter conditions, making life uninhabitable.
Joma’a al-Batran died on Sunday, and his twin brother, Ali, followed him on Monday morning despite the efforts of medical staff at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza to save him.
According to the father, the family evacuated from Beit Lahiya to the central Gaza Strip eight months ago and did not have a tent.
“There are no tents or shelters. May God hold accountable everyone who caused this catastrophe. This is Juma, what was his fault for dying from the cold and freezing?” the infant’s father asks in one clip.
Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the UN special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, said he has warned for months that “more than a million Palestinians lack shelter” for winter conditions.
“Now babies are freezing to death,” Rajagopal added, noting that this is another “achievement” of Israel’s so-called “most moral army in the world”.
Six Palestinian babies have frozen to death in the past few nights in Gaza, including three who died of hypothermia in the so-called “humanitarian zone” in al-Mawasi.
Palestinian nurse Ahmed al-Zaharneh, who was among the crews working at the European Gaza Hospital, also died on Friday because of “extreme” weather conditions, according to the Health Ministry.
The Ministry said, “His body was found inside his tent in al-Mawasi area, west of the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza.”
“This incident comes in light of the difficult humanitarian conditions that displaced citizens are experiencing, as the suffering of Gaza residents increases due to low temperatures and the lack of heating means in tents,” the Ministry added.
The deaths highlight the dire conditions in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are crammed into makeshift tents, fleeing Israeli shelling from various parts of the strip.
Gaza’s Government Media Office stated on Saturday that 110,000 out of 135,000 tents used by displaced Palestinians in the war-torn Gaza Strip are now out of service and have “completely deteriorated”.
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Get the latest CounterCurrents updates delivered straight to your inbox.
The Office accused the Israeli military of “causing a tragic humanitarian crisis” that is once again putting the lives of thousands of civilians at risk as the freezing winter sets in.
“This catastrophic humanitarian situation is a direct result of the genocide committed by the ‘Israeli’ occupation army, which has completely destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes of these citizens, forcing them to resort to living in tents that lack the minimum requirements for a decent life,” the statement said.
