Fourth newborn dies of hypothermia in cold, wet Gaza, father says

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 huddled in tents along the rainy, windswept coast as winter arrives.

Jomaa al-Batran, 20 days old, was found with his head as “cold as ice” when his parents woke up Sunday, his father Yehia says. The baby’s twin brother, Ali, was moved to the intensive care unit of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

Their father says the twins were born one month premature and spent just a day in the nursery at the hospital, which like other health centers in Gaza has been overwhelmed and is only partially functioning.

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He said medics told their mother to keep the newborns warm, but it was impossible because they live in a tent and temperatures regularly drop below 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit) at night.

“We are eight people, and we only have four blankets,” al-Batran says as he cradles his son’s pale body. He described drops of dew seeping through the tent cover overnight. “Look at his color because (of) the cold. Do you see how frozen he is?”

An imam prays over the shrouded infant, who is laid at his feet and is barely larger than his shoes. After prayers, the imam takes off his ankle-length coat and wraps it around the father.

“Feel warm, my brother,” he says.

At least three other babies have died from the cold in recent weeks, according to health officials in the Hamas-run enclave.

Rainy and stormy weather in the region is expected to intensify over the next two days before slightly warmer conditions return later this week.