Gazan baby is third infant to freeze to death in Strip in days, doctors say

A baby girl froze to death overnight in a Gaza tent camp, her family and doctors say, after two other infants also died of cold in recent days.

The father of 3-week-old Sila, Mahmoud al-Faseeh, wrapped her in a blanket to try and keep her warm in their tent in the al-Muwasi area outside Khan Younis, but it wasn’t enough, he tells The Associated Press. He says the tent was not sealed from the wind and the ground was cold, as temperatures Tuesday night dropped to 9 degrees Celsius (48 degrees Fahrenheit) in the coastal zone that Israel has attempted to funnel civilians into.

“It was very cold overnight and as adults we couldn’t even take it. We couldn’t stay warm,” he says. Sila woke up crying three times overnight and in the morning they found her unresponsive, her body stiff, he recalls.

“She was like wood,” says al-Faseeh. Doctors at a field hospital tried to revive her, but her lungs had already deteriorated. Images of Sila taken by the AP showed the little girl with purple lips, her pale skin blotchy.

Ahmed al-Farra, director of the children’s ward at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, confirms that the baby died of hypothermia. He says two other babies – one 3 days old, the other a month old – had been brought to the hospital over the past 48 hours after dying of hypothermia.

Israel says it regrets harm to civilians amid fighting, blaming Hamas for fighting in populated areas and causing mass displacements, but aid groups and others say Israel must do more to protect Gazans from hunger, cold and violence.

Palestinian casualty claims in the Hamas-ruled Strip are not possible to verify from Israel.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.