Category World News

In the bitter cold of a Gaza winter, two-month-old Mohammed Abu Harbid has become the latest victim of Israel’s genocidal war that has stripped Palestinians of shelter, warmth and survival.

Zaher al-Wahidi, director of health information at the Ministry of Health, told Al Jazeera the infant died from severe hypothermia at al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital.

His death brings the number of children who have frozen to death in the enclave since November 2025 to four, and 12 since the start of the genocidal war in October 2023.

As severe depression brings torrential rain and freezing winds to the coastal enclave, thousands of displaced families are facing a catastrophic humanitarian emergency, with the most vulnerable paying the highest price.

Incubators without batteries

At al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp, a newly opened neonatal ward is fighting a losing battle to keep premature babies alive.

The ward, established in early 2026 to meet soaring demand, receives about 17 infants daily. But Ahmed Abu Shaira, a medical staff member, says they are operating with one hand tied behind their back.

“We face many dilemmas, including a scarcity of medical equipment,” Abu Shaira told Al Jazeera Mubasher correspondent Talal al-Arouqi. “Some incubators come to us without batteries … the occupation forces the entry of incubators without batteries.”

This is a death sentence in a facility plagued by chronic power outages. During Al Jazeera’s visit, the electricity cut out more than five times in less than an hour.

“We try to reach a certain temperature for the child, but every time we do, the power cuts,” Abu Shaira explained. Without the internal batteries that Israeli restrictions have banned, the incubators go cold the instant the generator fails.

Compounding the crisis is a lack of medication to help premature lungs develop and a severe shortage of baby formula.

“We are now receiving babies born before 37 weeks … due to early labour caused by the mothers’ poor health,” Abu Shaira added. “These babies are prone to hypothermia … which can lead to death.”

Standing like pillars

Outside the hospitals, the situation is equally dire. In western Gaza City, the Kafarna family’s struggle for survival is measured in sleepless nights spent holding up their tent against the wind.

“When we hear the word ‘depression’, we start shaking … it’s like the horrors of doomsday,” the father told Al Jazeera Mubasher’s Ayman al-Hissi, standing inside a tent with balding fabric that offers little protection from the elements.

“Our bedding is soaked … My daughters are sick from the cold,” he said. “Illness is spreading among the children.”

The storm on Saturday night nearly destroyed their fragile shelter.

“I stood all night holding this pole, and my wife and daughters leaned against the wooden beams to brace against the wind,” the father recounted. “We took turns holding the tent … water was coming in from above and below.”

‘Just a piece of cloth’

The mother, exhausted and surrounded by sick children, described their shelter as a “piece of cloth” that hides them from view but protects them from nothing.

“I can’t even get medicine for my sick daughter … every time the wind blows, the tent snaps,” she said.

Their daughter, Waad, huddled in a tracksuit donated by a charity, has only one wish: a better tent.

“I wish they would bring us a ‘dome tent’ to protect us from the cold and rain,” Waad told Al Jazeera. “We [nearly] drowned last night … I wish I could go back to school.”

Her mother recalled a terrifying moment when Waad fell ill at night. “She was vomiting from her mouth and nose, and I couldn’t even find a light to see her … I didn’t know how to help her.”

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have agreed to withdraw from Aleppo after days of deadly violence. On Saturday, a suspected SDF drone hit a governorate building where senior officials had been meeting.

When the president of the Confederation of African Football, Patrice Motsepe, announced plans to move AFCON from a two-year to a four-year cycle, it raised a big question: Who actually benefits from that change? Samantha Johnson speaks to sports analyst Usher Komugisha about the power dynamics shaping the debate, and what it could mean for African football.

Iran’s state media says dozens of security forces have been killed during protests in the sanctions-hit country against a severe economic crisis, as the parliament speaker warned the United States and Israel of retaliatory strikes if Washington attacks the Islamic Republic.

State television said on Sunday 30 members of the police and security forces were killed in Isfahan province, while the commander of the Law Enforcement Command Special Units said eight security forces were killed on January 8 and 9 during operations to quell riots in various cities. The semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday that 109 security personnel had been killed in the protests across the country.

The Iranian Red Crescent, meanwhile, said a member of its team died during an attack on one of its relief buildings in Gorgan, the capital of Golestan province.

The reported figures come as Iranian authorities step up efforts to quell the country’s largest protests in years, which have seen thousands of people take to the streets in anger over the soaring cost of living and inflation.

The Interior Ministry said the “riots” are gradually subsiding while the attorney general has warned that those involved in the unrest could face the death penalty.

Trump threats

Speaking in parliament on Sunday after threats of military strikes by US President Donald Trump, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned the US against “a miscalculation”.

“Let us be clear: in the case of an attack on ‍Iran, the occupied territories (Israel) as well as all US bases and ships will be our legitimate target,” said Qalibaf, a former commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi said Qalibaf’s words are “a new level of escalation, at least rhetorically”.

Some lawmakers reportedly rushed the dais in the Iranian parliament, shouting: “Death to America!”

Asadi said the authorities are “trying to draw a line between protesters and what they call rioters, or what Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei came out to call saboteurs”.

“They are saying that they understand the situation and complexities related to the economic difficulties people are facing,” he said, adding that Qalibaf recognised the right of people to take part in protests in his remarks earlier in the day.

Trump said on Saturday the US is “ready to help” as protesters in Iran faced an intensifying crackdown by the authorities.

“Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!” Trump said in a social post on Truth Social, without elaborating.

His comments come a day after he said that Iran was in “big trouble” and again warned that he could order  strikes.

“That doesn’t mean boots on the ground, but it means hitting them very, very hard – where it hurts,” the US president said.

Meanwhile, a nationwide shutdown of the internet in Iran remains in place and has now lasted more than 60 hours, according to monitor Netblocks.

“The censorship measure presents a direct threat to the safety and wellbeing of Iranians at a key moment for the country’s future,” it said on Sunday, adding that the blackout is “now past the 60-hour mark”.

Warning from army

Iran’s police chief, Ahmad-Reza Rada, was quoted as saying by the state media on Sunday that the level of confrontation with rioters has been stepped up.

The Iranian army said on Saturday that it would defend the country’s “national interests” as it accused Israel and “hostile terrorist groups” of seeking to “undermine the country’s public security” amid the rapidly growing protest movement.

“The Army, under the command of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, together with other armed forces, in addition to monitoring enemy movements in the region, will resolutely protect and safeguard national interests, the country’s strategic infrastructure, and public property,” it said.

The demonstrations since late December are the largest in Iran since a 2022-2023 protest movement spurred by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code for women.

Human rights groups have urged restraint amid reports of protest-related casualties and mass arrests, with Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights saying at least 51 protesters, including nine children, have been killed by security forces, and hundreds more have been injured.