A fourth infant has died of hypothermia in the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by nearly 15 months of war are crowded into tents along the rainy, windswept coast as winter.
Jomaa al-Batran, 20 days old, was found with his head “cold as ice” when his parents woke up on Sunday, his father, Yehia, said. The baby’s twin brother, Ali, was transferred to the intensive care unit of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Their father said the twins were born a month premature and spent only a day in the hospital nursery, which, like other health centers in the country, Gaza has been overwhelmed and is only partially functioning.
He said doctors had told their mother to keep the newborns warm, but that was impossible because they live in a tent and temperatures regularly drop below 10C at night.
“We are eight people and we only have four blankets,” al-Batran said as he cradled his son’s pale body. He described drops of dew seeping through the canvas of the tent during the night. “Look at its color because of (the) cold. Do you see how frozen it is?
Children, some barefoot, stood outside and watched him cry. The child wrapped in a shroud was placed at the feet of an imam, barely bigger than his shoes. After the prayer, the imam took off his coat down to his ankles and wrapped it around the father.
“Be warm, brother,” he said.
At least three other babies have died from the cold in recent weeks, according to local health authorities.
Palestinian woman killed in West Bank home
A Palestinian woman was shot and killed in her home in Jenin, a volatile West Bank city where the Palestinian Authority this month launched a rare campaign against militants.
The family of Shatha al-Sabbagh, a 22-year-old journalism student, said she was killed by a Palestinian security force sniper on Saturday night while she was with her mother and two children. They said there were no militants in the area at the time.
A statement from Palestinian security forces said she was shot dead by “outlaws” – the term used for local militants fighting Israeli forces. Security forces condemned the shooting and vowed to open an investigation.
The Western-backed Palestinian Authority exercises limited autonomy in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. He is unpopular among Palestinians, largely because he cooperates with Israel on security issues, even though Israel accuses him of incitement and generally turning a blind eye to militancy.
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In a statement, the al-Sabbagh family accused Palestinian security forces of having become “repressive tools that practice terrorism against their own people instead of protecting their dignity and resisting the (Israeli) occupation.”
The Hamas militant group blamed security forces and pointed out that al-Sabbagh was the sister of one of its fighters killed fighting with Israeli troops last year.
Later on Sunday, hundreds of people demonstrated in Jenin in support of Palestinian security forces, organized by the Fatah party which dominates the Palestinian Authority.
Violence has erupted in the West Bank since Hamas’ attack from Gaza on October 7, 2023, sparked war there. Israel captured the West Bank, along with Gaza and East Jerusalem, in the 1967 Middle East war. The Palestinians want the three territories for a future state.
Israeli report details abuse of hostages held in Gaza
The October 7 attack killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped around 250 people, including women, children and the elderly. Around a hundred hostages are still in Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s Health Ministry released a report late Saturday detailing what it said was widespread physical, psychological and sexual abuse of people detained in Gaza.
The report, based on the findings of doctors who treated some of the more than 100 hostages freed during a ceasefire last year, said the captives – including children – were subjected to “severe physical and sexual abuse such as beatings, isolation, food deprivation.” and water, branding, hair pulling and sexual assault.
The findings, which will be sent to the United Nations, could increase pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire and release of hostages with Hamas. The hostages’ families and their supporters have been staging mass protests for months, and diplomats have reported recent progress in long-running indirect talks.
Strike on Gaza City hospital kills 7
An Israeli strike on an upper floor of Wafa Hospital in Gaza City on Sunday killed at least seven people and injured several others, according to Civil Defense, first responders affiliated with the Hamas-led government. The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas control center inside the building, which it said was no longer being used as a hospital.
And a strike near Nuseirat in central Gaza killed eight people and injured more than 15, according to Al-Awda hospital officials.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said militants launched five projectiles from northern Gaza toward Israel, the second time in two days, adding that two were intercepted and the others likely fell in open areas. The Sderot municipality said three people were lightly injured while heading to shelters. Rocket fire from northern Gaza has been rare in recent months as the Israeli army has stepped up operations in the area.
The Israeli offensive has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities. They say women and children account for more than half of the deaths, but do not distinguish between militants and civilians in their count. Israel claims to have killed more than 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Israel’s bombings and ground operations have displaced around 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, often repeatedly. Large areas, including entire neighborhoods, are in ruins and essential infrastructure is destroyed.
Israeli restrictions, fighting and the breakdown of law and order have hampered the delivery of humanitarian aid, raising fears of famine, while hunger puts populations at increased risk of illness and death.
