The drastic drop in temperatures in the Gaza Strip has added a new risk factor for the Gazan population and has already claimed the lives of at least seven children, mostly babies, prompting the UN and NGOs who work on the ground to warn of the special vulnerability of the hundreds of thousands of people living in tents.
In mid-December, the humanitarian coordination group examining shelter needs in Gaza already warned that at least 945,000 people needed urgent help to prepare for winter, for example with thermal clothing, blankets or material with which to seal the shelters and avoid the entry of rain and cold.
The UN is aware of the deaths of at least seven children, many of them newborn babies. Between December 24 and 29 alone, five children between three days and one month old died in displaced persons tents in the central and southern Gaza Strip, according to the local Ministry of Health.
The regional director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Edouard Beigbeder, warns that “these preventable deaths demonstrate the desperate conditions faced by families and children in Gaza.” If this “inhumane” situation persists, he fears that as temperatures continue to fall “more children will lose their lives.”
The NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) agrees with this concern and warns that, despite the fact that it is already the second winter that Gaza has experienced war, the conditions are now even worse than those of last year, since at least twelve months ago “there were still some buildings to shelter in.”
“After almost 15 months of war and the destruction of almost all infrastructure, the majority of people in Gaza live in tents that barely insulate against the wind, cold and rain,” explains MSF emergency coordinator in Gaza, Pascale Coissard. . The NGO, which participates in the care of several hospitals, warns of the special vulnerability of children born prematurely or with low weight.
CEASE-FIRE
The director general of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Amy Pope, has insisted on the “urgent” need to provide aid to these “vulnerable” populations, something that depends largely on political will. Only 285,000 people have received specific shelter assistance since September 2024, according to data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The IOM already has another million and a half supplies – insulation, tents or bedding material, for example – ready in its warehouses or even at entry points in Gaza, but the entry of aid remains limited and depends on the guidelines set by Israel, which controls all steps.
All United Nations agencies agree in calling for an immediate and lasting ceasefire in the Strip, the “only solution to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian population and guarantee access to medical care and humanitarian aid,” as also pointed out from MSF Coissard.
Otherwise, he warns, medical staff will remain unable to meet all needs: “Our activities in pediatric, neonatal and obstetric care are just a drop in the ocean of enormous medical needs in Gaza.”