Nine-month-old baby dies from cold in Gaza
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on L’essentiel
A nine-month-old baby, Kinan Ahmad Raqiq, died of hypothermia in a family tent in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza. Civil defence and a doctor confirmed the death, while Unicef warns that 1.7 million displaced people are exposed to the cold, according to AFP.
A nine-month-old baby, Kinan Ahmad Raqiq, died of hypothermia in a tent where his family had taken refuge in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. A Palestinian doctor who examined his body told AFP that he had "died from the cold", while civil defence, a first-response organisation operating under Hamas’s authority, confirmed his death after exposure to "intense cold".
Some 1.7 million displaced people are living in tents, makeshift shelters or damaged buildings, according to Unicef. Eleven children died of hypothermia during the previous winter, and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) reported on Sunday an increase in cases of hypothermia.
Torrential rains that hit Gaza on Saturday flooded tens of thousands of tents and killed five people, including three children, according to Palestinian rescue services. James Elder, a Unicef spokesman, warned on Tuesday that families were preparing to face a fourth winter in precarious conditions.
Cogat, the Israeli body overseeing civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, said on Thursday that more than 91,000 tents and 8,200 trucks carrying winter supplies had entered Gaza in recent months. The announcement comes after deadly storms left thousands of displaced people homeless, published on 11 November, and five Palestinians died under their tents, announced on 10 November.
