A fourth infant has died of hypothermia in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by nearly 15 months of war brace themselves for winter.
20-day-old Jomaa al-Batran was found with his head as “cold as ice” early on Sunday, his father, Yehia, said.
The baby’s twin brother, Ali, was moved to intensive care at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
The boys’ father said they were born one month premature and spent just a day in the hospital, which like other healthcare centres in Gaza is overwhelmed and only partially functioning.
Ali al-Batran, a 20-day-old infant, lies in the intensive care unit at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, 29 December, 2024 – Abdel Kareem Hana/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved.
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 at night.
Children, some of them barefoot, stood outdoors and watched as the shrouded baby was laid at the feet of an imam for prayers.
Local health officials in Gaza say at least three other babies have died of cold in the Strip in recent weeks.
Israeli report details abuse of hostages in Gaza
Meanwhile, Israel’s Health Ministry has released a report detailing what it calls widespread physical, psychological and sexual abuse, based on findings of doctors who treated some of the more than 100 hostages released from Gaza during a truce in November last year.
It said the captives, including children, had been subjected to severe abuse such as “beatings, isolation, deprivation of food and water, branding, hair-pulling and sexual assault.”
The report said one hostage described being sexually assaulted at gunpoint by a Hamas militant, and “on several occasions, captors forced women of all ages to undress while others, including the captors, watched.”
Israelis protest in Tel Aviv against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and call for the release of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas, 28 December, 2024 – Ariel Schalit/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved.
Former hostage Aviva Siegel told the AP that “people like to keep it quiet and say it didn’t happen. It happened.”
She said she had watched others being threatened with a gun and beaten and that she had been physically assaulted.
The findings, which will be sent to the United Nations, could increase pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire and hostage release with Hamas.
The Hamas incursion into southern Israel on 7 October last year saw around 1,200 people killed and at least 250 others taken hostage and brought back to Gaza.
Israeli officials say Hamas is still holding around 100 captive but around a third are thought to be dead.
More strikes on Gaza
An Israeli strike on Wafa Hospital in Gaza City killed at least seven people and wounded several others, according to the Civil Defence, first responders affiliated with the Hamas-run government.
Israel’s military said it struck a Hamas control centre inside the building, which it said no longer served as a hospital.
And a strike near Nuseirat in central Gaza killed eight and wounded over 15, according to Al-Awda Hospital officials.
Israel’s military said militants launched five projectiles from northern Gaza, the second time in two days, saying two were intercepted and the rest likely fell in open areas.
