Eman Abu al-Khair, a mother-in-law, clutches a small bag of her infant’s clothes inside her tent while Khan Younis, a Gaza Strip resident, is pale and weary. Her child had already died from hypothermia.
The 34-year-old mother is still grieving after losing her son Mohammed, who has been missing for just 14 days. She simply couldn’t keep him warm enough despite the destruction caused by Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
Eman tells Al Jazeera, “I can still hear his tiny cries in my ears,” pointing out the pain on her face. I go to sleep and leave, unable to accept that his crying and awakening me at night will never occur again.
After being displaced from their home in the east of Khan Younis, the family’s tragedy started late on December 13 in al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
Eman put her baby to sleep, but when she woke up later, she discovered him in a worrying condition.
Without adequate shelter  or clothing for a newborn, there was no protection for Mohammed because the temperature had dropped.
His body was ice-cold, he claimed. He was barely breathing, his hands and feet were frozen, and his face was stiff and yellow, she says.
“My husband immediately woke up so that we could take him to the hospital,” he said. “But he couldn’t find any way to get us there.”
The father couldn’t even travel to the hospital because it was late at night and the rain was still pouring.
The family waited until morning because there was no other choice.
We rushed toward the hospital as soon as the sun set, according to Eman. “We arrived too late, sadly,” he said. His condition was already critical.
The infant’s deterioration at the Red Crescent Hospital in Khan Younis shocked the doctors there. His convulsive symptoms caused doctors to rush him into the paediatric intensive care unit because his face had completely turned blue.
Before he passed away on December 15 after two days in intensive care.
“My baby didn’t have any medical issues. His tests revealed no illness. His tiny body “couldn’t stand the extreme cold inside the tents,” Eman says, wiping her tears in her eyes.
An infant died on Tuesday as a result of a severe body temperature drop brought on by the recent extreme cold in Gaza as a result of the ministry of health’s announcement to address the death of the child.
Mohammed Khalil Abu al-Khair, who was two weeks old, had died from acute hypothermia, according to the ministry’s press release.
Abu al-Khair, who arrived at the hospital two days ago and was taken to the intensive care unit, passed away yesterday, according to the statement.
After the ministry announced three similar deaths in Gaza the week before Mohammed’s death, there are now four more children who have died as a result of the cold weather.
Celebration turned into destruction
After a grueling pregnancy that, according to Eman, was filled with hardship and the war was still raging, the Abu al-Khair family welcomed Mohammed on December 1 in a state of joy and celebration.
“My pregnancy was a lot of work,” she said. I was exhausted and we had to endure extremely harsh conditions and famine,” she claims.
“But Mohammed’s well-being and birth gave me all my suffering.” I had no idea that after just two weeks, we would lose him.
Eman makes desperate attempts to secure the tent and seal every opening to protect the baby from the cold while Khalil, the baby’s father, tried to secure the tent and keep the baby warm with every piece of clothing and the blankets she had.
But they made no end in themselves.
As you can see, we are residing in tents on the street. What exactly can a piece of cloth or nylon do? She yells while circling the tent.
The cold is unfathomable, he says. When we wake up in the morning, water reaches our bedding from below.
After their two-year-old daughter Mona, who had grown up during the conflict that started in October 2023, Eman and Khalil gave birth to Mohammed, Eman and Khalil’s second child.
Little Mona emailed me after we left the burial and inquired, “Where is the baby?” As she holds her daughter and sobs, Eman says, “Every time she asks where her little brother went, she kills me.”
Eman wonders what crime her baby and other young people his age committed, and why they deserve what she calls the “cruel” fate of a life lived in tents.
“Our children have perished one after another through bombing, snipers, hunger, and cold. My child is not the first, and neither will he.
Not a life, really.
The director general of the Gazan government’s health agency, Munir al-Bursh, has warned of more premature deaths among children, the elderly, and the sick as a result of the soaring temperatures inside displacement tents that have been soaked in rain.
According to Al-Bursh, tents are a breeding ground for the spread of respiratory illnesses among those who are displaced, and patients are unable to receive any medical care due to moisture and standing water inside.
In Gaza, little reconstruction has occurred despite the ceasefire’s onset in October, where Israeli bombing and systematic demolition have destroyed the majority of residential structures.
Israel has also continued to attack Gaza frequently, and there are no indications that it will allow real reconstruction to begin, at least temporarily.
That implies that Mohammed’s circumstances are likely to persist.
And Eman is terrified of losing her 2-year-old daughter because of the tragic loss of her baby.
I cover her with everything I have, cover her, and never go to sleep. I keep an eye on her constantly. She claims that her heart is burning.
Eman is caught between trying to comfort herself and clinging to patience as to how long the situation there will continue to be so dire.
This is not a life, they say. Unfortunately, she claims that the reality appears to be going on for ten more years.
Source: Aljazeera
Leave a Reply