GAZA — At least six children have died due to the severe cold in the Gaza Strip, according to medical sources, reported Aljazeera.
Five of them died in the Friends of the Patient Hospital in the al-Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City, while the sixth child died in the city of Khan Younis, in southern Gaza.
One of the victims, a baby girl called Sham, was just a few days old.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians across Gaza are living among the rubble of their destroyed homes, while strong winds and heavy rains have turned makeshift shelters into barely liveable spaces.
The humanitarian crisis is being worsened by Israel’s blockade on aid and mobile homes.
Hamas has issued a statement about the children in Gaza who were frozen to death.
“The death of six newborn babies in the Gaza Strip, due to the severe cold and lack of heating, and the presence of a number of children in hospitals in critical condition” is the result of Israel’s “criminal policies” and “its prevention of the entry of humanitarian aid and shelter materials” for more than two million people,” the Palestinian group said.
It said this takes place at a time “when the international community continues its silence on addressing the unprecedented humanitarian disaster” unfolding in Gaza as a result of the Israeli “aggression and siege”.
Hamas said it demanded that the mediators take immediate action to stop Israel’s “violation of the ceasefire agreement, oblige it to implement the humanitarian protocol associated with it, and ensure the entry of shelter, heating and urgent medical aid supplies” to Gaza.
