In the Gaza Strip, killing has expanded beyond bombing and devastation to include infant deaths due to the extreme cold and dire humanitarian circumstances.
The Gaza Strip’s Ministry of Health said in a statement today, Monday, that eight people have died as a result of the extreme cold, including seven children, the last of whom was 35-day-old Youssef Ahmed Kalloub, who died from a lack of heating techniques and inadequate medical attention.
In spite of the toxic materials they contain that further endanger public health, displaced families were forced to burn the remains of destroyed homes for heating as a result of the ongoing Israeli blockade and the prohibition of the entry of fuel and basic supplies.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), for its part, issued a warning about the high newborn mortality rates brought on by the extreme cold and lack of shelter, pointing out that over 7,700 newborns do not have access to the basic medical care they need to survive.
About two million Palestinians, out of a population of 2.4 million, have been displaced by the ongoing Israeli aggression, according to the Government Media Office in Gaza. They are living in substandard conditions in deteriorated tents that offer little protection from the cold and rain, and they are also facing a shortage of food, water, and winter clothing.
International humanitarian law, which requires the occupation to protect civilians, is blatantly violated by the siege, starvation, and targeting of children in Gaza, which results in their slow death from hunger and cold. The international community must take on its moral and legal obligations and act quickly to put an end to these crimes and establish secure humanitarian corridors that guarantee the supply of food, medicine, and warmth to the civilians—children in particular—who bear the brunt of this ongoing tragedy.
