5 newborn babies freeze to death in Gaza

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Five newborn babies froze to death in the Gaza Strip amid cold weather in the war-torn enclave, a Palestinian doctor said on Tuesday.

“Nine infants were hospitalized in the past two weeks due to health complications caused by severe cold,” Saeed Salah, Director of the Patient’s Friends Benevolent Society Hospital in Gaza, told Anadolu.

“Of the nine cases, five babies aged between one day and two weeks died,” he added.

Salah said one baby is still on a ventilator due to his serious health condition, while three others were discharged.

He said the nine babies were transferred to the hospital from northern Gaza, where most of the population has been displaced and is living in tents following Israel’s destructive war on the enclave.

Salah appealed to the international community to intervene to allow the entry of mobile homes, tents, and fuel into Gaza to provide shelter to thousands of Palestinians.

Hamas blamed Israel’s “criminal policies” for the babies’ deaths.

In a statement, the group called for immediate intervention “to stop Israel’s violations of the ceasefire agreement and allow the entry of urgent shelter, heating, and medical aid supplies into Gaza to the children there.”

According to Gaza’s government media office, nearly 1.5 million Palestinians have been left without home or shelter by the Israeli war.

A ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement has been in place in Gaza since last month, pausing the Israeli war that has killed at least 48,350 people, mostly women and children, and left the enclave in ruins.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.