The nights of the winter season are extremely harsh on the displacement camps in Gaza as the nights, which may be the coldest in the last 10 years according to meteorological experts, have become an additional terrifying nightmare for families.
Children cannot bear this cold despite attempts to protect them with winter blankets, if available. Most of Gaza children only have a piece of nylon to confront the cold spell.
Abu Mohammad, a father of three children, woke up after midnight a few days ago and found his son uncovered due to his movement during sleep.
When he tried to cover him properly, he discovered that his body was very cold, especially his extremities.
At that moment, fear ignited in his heart as he recalled the children who had died from the cold.
According to government and UN data, as of Monday, at least eight children have died from the cold, with expectations of the number rising as the winter season begins and the war continues alongside the difficult humanitarian situation faced by the displaced.
‘I could only think of dying from the cold, so I hurried to wake my son, move him, and cover him properly. I didn’t go back to sleep until warmth returned to his extremities and body in general.
‘Since that day, my wife and I have been waking up several times at night to ensure the children are warm and that the blankets are spread over them properly,’ says Abu Mohammad.
The same situation occurs with Abu Audai, who has eight children of various ages but lacks enough blankets to alleviate the harshness of the cold.
‘In our home, we used to have one blanket for each person in the family, and we had many blankets exceeding our needs before the brutal Zionist war on Gaza. We had different types of heaters that operated on gas, kerosene, and even electricity,’ says Abu Audai.
Today, Abu Audai’s house in the Shati refugee camp has been destroyed by the occupation army, forcing him and his family to flee under the heavy bombardment to central Gaza.
Now, in his tent made of nylon and some fabrics, he has only one blanket for his children, and there are no heating tools available. Even starting a fire is not possible due to the tent’s limited space and its unsuitability for that purpose.
‘I received some blankets from humanitarian organisations and initiatives, but they were not enough for my large family. When I went to buy from the market, I found that the price of one blanket had multiplied to nearly 10 times, which only allowed me to buy a few,’ he said.
Abu Mohammad and Abu Audai believe that international organisations and global relief agencies are significantly negligent in providing the needs of Palestinian families in Gaza, especially those living in difficult conditions in the displacement camps during this harsh cold, rejecting any justifications that these organisations might offer.
The International Organisation for Migration expressed deep concern over the devastating impact of winter rains and freezing temperatures on displaced Palestinians in Gaza, which adds to the unprecedented humanitarian disaster in the region.
The organisation’s Director General, Amy Pope, said in a press release on Friday that the displaced in Gaza are at risk, including at least eight infants who lost their lives due to hypothermia.
These tragic deaths underscore the urgent need for the people of Gaza to receive shelter and other assistance immediately.
According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, systematic restrictions on aid access have severely hindered its delivery, with only 285,000 people receiving shelter assistance since September.
The Shelter Cluster, a coordinating body of the UN and international and local humanitarian organisations, estimated that as of mid-last month, at least 945,000 residents of Gaza are in urgent need of assistance to face winter, including thermal clothing, blankets, and tarpaulin to insulate shelters from rain and cold.
The International Organisation for Migration emphasised that winter-related deaths can be avoided, noting that it has delivered nearly 180,000 emergency shelter items to partners inside Gaza since mid-November.
It indicated that it has more than 1.5 million units of other winter supplies, including insulation kits, tents, and bedding kits, ready in warehouses and entry points.
However, severe access restrictions imposed by the occupying state prevent these supplies from reaching those in need.
Meanwhile, the UN agency for children, UNICEF, previously issued a strong warning about the disproportionate impact of the war on children in Gaza, particularly during winter.
Rosalia Polin, a UNICEF spokesperson, said during a press conference in Geneva: ‘Winter has now arrived in Gaza; children feel the cold and humidity and are barefoot.
‘Many of them still wear summer clothes, and with cooking gas running out, many are searching among the rubble for plastic pieces to burn.’
Edouard Beigbeder, the regional director of UNICEF in the Middle East, previously said that cold-related injuries such as frostbite and hypothermia pose severe risks to young children in tents and other temporary shelters unprepared for cold weather.
He noted that with temperatures expected to drop further, more children are likely to lose their lives due to the inhumane conditions they live in, which offer no protection from the cold.
Beigbeder mentioned that the capacity of relief workers to provide basic protection from winter cold, such as blankets and warm clothing, is severely restricted due to the limited humanitarian aid allowed by the occupation to enter Gaza.
Global testimonies
Western newspapers, especially American ones, have been unable to conceal the difficult humanitarian reality in Gaza, especially with the onset of child deaths due to the severe cold in displacement tents.
The New York Times reported that killing, hunger, and cold are a triad that kills the displaced in Gaza as the war continues into its second year.
The newspaper noted that most of the displaced in Gaza welcomed the new year shivering from the cold in tent camps or in schools that have turned into shelters.
The same sentiment was echoed by NBC News, which stated that children in Gaza Strip are born into war and die in the cold, forced to struggle to adapt to low temperatures.
The network warned that with the harsh winter season, the majority of displaced Palestinians living in tents are unable to find ways to stay warm amidst the cold, wind, and rain.
With all that is happening in Gaza, and despite the ongoing discussions and repeated warnings, the global conscience remains unable to change the reality and stop the genocide that has begun to employ all forms of killing against the oppressed Palestinian people in Gaza.
This allows the occupation to continue utilising all methods of killing, of which the cold has become one, while awaiting a divine justice that vindicates the Palestinians after the entire world has failed to do so, or rather has chosen not to.
- United Nations and human rights institutions have warned of dangerous repercussions of implementing the Israeli decision banning the operations of the United Nations Work and Relief Agency (UNRWA).
Such a decision, UN officials said, would negatively affect millions of Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.
‘As time passes by, imposing a dangerous resolution concerning the agency becomes closer,’ Juliette Touma, communications director for the UN’s agency for Palestine refugees, warned in press statements last Saturday, affirming that the ban will go in effect soon.
Touma asserted that once the ban comes in effect, the agency will not be able to provide essential services for millions of Palestinian refugees in Gaza Strip, West Bank, and in East Jerusalem.
The UN official pointed out that there is no way to replace UNRWA at the moment, stressing that the Israeli Knesset must reconsider its decision to suspend the agency’s operations.
Meanwhile, Ali Hweidi, the general director of Association 302 to Defend Refugees Rights said that the ban is set to come into effect on the 28th of January 2025.
‘So far, there is no executive resolution to suspend the agency’s operations in the Gaza Strip, West Bank, or other districts,’ Hweidi said.
He also pointed out that the agency is still fulfilling its roles, adding that there is no sufficient information about how the occupation state will deal with alternatives of the UNRWA.
‘The agency will not be able to resume its work in the regions under the Israeli control as all its offices and bank accounts inside Israel will be closed,’ Hweidi underlined, pointing out that the occupation has been deliberately targeting the agency which provides basic services for about 5.9 million Palestinians.
‘The Israeli ban on the agency under the current harsh circumstances will definitely result in dangerous human consequences,’ Hweidi affirmed, stressing that the ban will aggravate the suffering of the refugees especially in the Gaza Strip, who are fully dependent on utterly inadequate amounts of aid allowed across the border.
Hweidi also warned that the decision to close UNRWA aims at closing the file of Palestinian refugees in general and abolish the right of return.
He called on the international community and human rights institutions to stop the ongoing violations against the Palestinian refugees, affirming the importance of popular movements and media and diplomatic pressure on decision makers in the UN in order to support the rights of Palestinian refugees and provide protection to the agency.