Another newborn baby has died in the Gaza Strip due to extreme cold, while Israel’s blockade of basic necessities further deepens the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave.
Medical sources confirmed to Al Jazeera on Saturday that seven-day-old boy Mahmoud Al-Aqraa died in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, due to a sudden drop in temperature.
Palestinians living in makeshift tents are almost completely unprotected from strong wind and rain, as the shelters are made of thin canvas and plastic. Israel continues to restrict the entry of tents and more permanent shelters into Gaza, violating the ceasefire agreement reached with Hamas in October. The entry of mobile homes, as well as tools and materials needed to repair damaged tents, is also blocked.
Night temperatures in Gaza have dropped to nine degrees Celsius in recent days.
The Civil Protection of Gaza announced on Friday that “every cyclone turns into a humanitarian disaster due to the ban on the entry of construction materials and the suspension of reconstruction”. The organization warned of a “catastrophe” caused by low pressure that caused serious damage to temporary shelters, with thousands of tents completely destroyed.
Civil protection called on citizens to additionally secure tents so that strong winds do not blow them away, given that mobile homes are not allowed.
“What is happening is not a time crisis, but a direct consequence of the ban on the entry of construction materials and the suspension of reconstruction. People are living in torn tents and cracked houses, without security and dignity,” said Civil Protection spokesman Mahmoud Basal.
He added that Palestinians are forced to pitch tents on the beach due to lack of space inside the cities, which were largely destroyed by Israeli attacks.
Al Jazeera journalist Hind Khoudary, reporting from Gaza City, said many of the tents she visited were completely destroyed. “There is no way to repair these tents because the families don’t have the necessary materials,” she said, adding that people whose shelters were destroyed are forced to look for new places to stay and are constantly re-displaced.
Meteorological services in Gaza have warned that strong winds are expected to continue and temperatures will further drop.
The director of the Palestinian Network of Non-Governmental Organizations in Gaza, Amjad Shawa, told AFP last week that about 1.5 million of Gaza’s total population of 2.2 million were left homeless during the war. Of the more than 300,000 tents that were requested to take care of the displaced, “only 60,000 have arrived,” Shawa emphasized, pointing to Israeli restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid.
In a separate incident, an Israeli quadcopter drone killed a Palestinian man who was taken to a hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, medical sources confirmed to Al Jazeera.
According to the United Nations, almost 80 percent of the buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged during the two-year war that Israel is waging against the enclave.
