A second Palestinian infant was pronounced dead in Gaza on Wednesday as a result of cold, after suffering in a makeshift displacement camp amid Israeli bombardment.
The infant, only two weeks old, was identified as Sila Mahmoud al-Fasih, and died in the al-Mawasi area located west of Khan Younis in the south of the enclave.
Days earlier, on Friday last week, another infant named Aisha Adnan Sufyan al-Qassas also died from the cold in the same camp.
Al-Fasih’s death has triggered widespread calls for Israel to be held accountable for creating terrible conditions in the Strip through forced evacuation orders, the obstruction of aid and ferocious ongoing bombardment.
In a video that has since been widely shared online, al-Fasih’s father describes waking up on Wednesday to see his daughter looking blue and bleeding from her mouth and nose.
He says he took her to a UNRWA affiliated clinic and spoke to doctors who told him “the baby’s heart stopped from the cold”.
Most of Gaza’s population has been displaced since Israel launched its war on the Strip on 7 October 2023. Many families have been forced to create makeshift shelters in squalid conditions, allowing the spread of disease.
The head of the Euro-Med human rights monitor, Ramy Abdu, confirmed the death of al-Fasih on social media platform X, sharing the video of her father.
According to The New Arab’s Arabic language sister site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, displaced people in the al-Mawasi area near the Mediterranean Sea are vulnerable to storms and wind, with their tents often being swept away.
Many displaced Palestinians have said that the harsh conditions and cold weather was giving them bone pain, while others said they were experiencing nosebleeds.
Many of the tents are made from scrap pieces of cloth and nylon sheets, and many do not have access to clothing, bedding or blankets.
On Tuesday, the chief of the UN agency UNRWA said one child is killed every hour in Gaza.
In a post on social media platform X, Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the organisation, said there is “no place left for children” in Gaza, adding that since the launch of Israel’s war on the enclave, 14,500 children have been killed.
“One child gets killed every hour. These are not numbers. These are lives cut short” his post read.
“Killing children cannot be justified. Those who survive are scarred physically and emotionally.”
Earlier this year, the charity Oxfam said more women and children have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli military than other recent conflict in a single year.
“These staggering figures are both appalling and heartbreaking. Influential actors in the international community have not only failed to hold Israel to account, they are also complicit in the atrocities by continuing to unconditionally supply it with arms” Sally Abi Khalil, the organisation’s Middle East and North Africa director said.
“It will take generations to recover from the devastating impacts of this war and there is still no ceasefire in sight” Khalil continued.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 45,338 Palestinians and wounded 107,764 since 7 October 2023. The war on the besieged enclave has levelled entire neighbourhoods and plunged the Strip into a deep humanitarian crisis.
