Extreme cold kills another infant in Gaza as Israel blocks vital aid

A seven-day-old infant has died due to the extreme cold in the Gaza Strip as the Israeli blockade of vital necessities worsens the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave.

Medical sources told Al Jazeera on Saturday that Mahmoud Al-Aqraa died in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza amid rapidly decreasing temperatures.

Palestinians living in makeshift tents have little protection from the strong wind and rain, as most shelters are made of thin canvas and plastic sheeting.

Israel continues to limit the number of tents and sustainable shelters entering Gaza, in violation of the ceasefire it agreed with Hamas in October. It has also blocked other vital necessities, such as mobile homes, as well as tools and materials to fix the damaged tents.

Temperatures at night in Gaza have been falling to as low as nine degrees Celsius (48 degrees Fahrenheit) in recent days.

In a statement, Gaza’s Civil Defence said on Friday that “every low-pressure system turns into a humanitarian disaster in light of the prevention of the entry of building materials and the disruption of reconstruction.”

The organisation warned of a “catastrophe” due to the “low-pressure system that caused serious damage to temporary shelters, and thousands of tents were completely damaged”.

The Civil Defence urged citizens to secure their tents to prevent them from being blown away, given that mobile homes are not allowed to enter.

“What is happening is not a weather crisis, but a direct result of preventing the entry of building materials and disrupting reconstruction, as people are living in torn tents and cracked houses without safety or dignity,” Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal said.

He also said Palestinians were forced to set up their tents on the beach due to the lack of available space inside the cities as a result of the extensive Israeli destruction of them.

Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Gaza City, said many tents she visited have been destroyed.

“There is no way to fix these tents, because the families do not have the materials to do that,” she said, adding that people whose tents are destroyed are forced to look for somewhere else to stay, and move to become displaced over and over again.

The meteorological authority in Gaza has warned that strong winds are expected to continue, and a further drop in temperatures is expected in the enclave.

In a statement to the AFP news agency last week, Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network in Gaza, said about 1.5 million of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents have lost their homes in the war.

Of more than 300,000 tents requested to shelter displaced people, “we have received only 60,000,” Shawa said, pointing to Israeli restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid.

In a separate development, an Israeli quadcopter killed a Palestinian man who was being transferred to a hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, medical sources told Al Jazeera on Saturday.