Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have been ordered to move to a campsite in al-Mawasi by the Israeli military where weather conditions have damaged tents
Babies including a newborn less than three weeks old are freezing to death in war-torn Gaza.
According to the BBC, six newborns have died from hypothermia in a fortnight in Gaza where temperatures have plummeted as low as 7C. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have been ordered to move to a campsite in al-Mawasi by the Israeli military where weather conditions have damaged tents.
International charity Action Aid previously stated that mothers had become “so malnourished they are unable to breastfeed their newborn babies.” As well as being unable to maintain their body temperature, the babies are prone to developing severe hypothermia in the harsh weather which results in death.
The area is reportedly also battered by flooding brought on by rain and waves coming from the Mediterranean sea. Although it is deemed a “humanitarian area”, it has been struck repeatedly by the Israeli army as the war against Hamas rages on. According to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, 71% of Gaza’s population is suffering “acute hunger.”
Human Rights Watch also stated that the Israeli government is using starvation as a weapon of war, while Amnesty International said they were also preventing the delivery of food and accused Netanyahu’s government of committing acts of genocide which the Israeli government denies.
Temperatures are expected to “drop further in coming days” and in a statement by Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, he warned that more children would die. For over a year, the Israeli government has waged war in Gaza after Hamas militants stormed the country on October 7 last year, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostages.
Following this, Israel has killed at least 44,500 Palestinians with half of them being women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.