7 infants freeze to death in Gaza amid ongoing Israeli attacks

GAZA CITY

The number of infants who have died from the cold in Gaza’s tent camps over the past week rose to six, according to a statement by the Gaza Media Office.

Ali al-Batran, an infant displaced by Israeli attacks and living in a tent, died from severe cold and lack of heating, the statement said.

His twin, Jumaa al-Batran, who was in critical condition in the neonatal intensive care unit at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza, also died from intense cold on Dec. 29.

The new fatality brought the total number of babies who have frozen to death in Gaza to six in the past week, according to local health authorities.

Winter is hitting the Gaza Strip and many of the nearly 2 million Palestinians displaced by the devastating 14-month war with Israel are struggling to protect themselves from the wind, cold and rain.

The United Nations warns of people living in precarious makeshift shelters that might not survive the winter. At least 945,000 people need winterization supplies, which have become prohibitively expensive in Gaza, the U.N. said in an update last week.

In a new development on the Gaza war, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) chief called for the immediate release of Hossam Abu Safiyeh, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, who is being held by Israel's military following a major raid on the facility.

The assault on Kamal Adwan in Beit Lahia left northern Gaza's last major health facility out of service and emptied of patients.

Israel's military said that its forces had killed approximately 20 Palestinian militants and apprehended "240 terrorists" in the raid, calling it one of its "largest operations" conducted in the territory.