Cold and malnutrition claim more victims in Gaza amid winter rains

By Tim Lister, Ibrahim Dahman and Eugenia Yosef

(CNN) — Winter cold and rains as well as malnutrition are still killing people in Gaza, despite the ceasefire being in its fourth month.

Ten children in Gaza have died from hypothermia since the beginning of the winter, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Saturday. A three-month old baby died from severe cold at Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the past 24 hours, the ministry said.

When temperatures fall, “the most affected group is children,” Dr. Ahmad Al Faraa, head of the pediatrics department at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, told CNN earlier this month.

“Their fat tissue is limited, the surface area responsible for heat loss is larger, and their energy reserves are low. The most fragile among children are premature and low birth weight infants,” Al Faraa said.

“Hundreds of thousands of people are staying in displacement sites and exposed to cold and rainy winter conditions,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Friday. It added that strong winds had damaged hundreds of tents in the last week.

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza remains severe despite the current ceasefire. “Plunging temperatures, wind, rain & floods. Winter keeps compounding the misery of people in the Gaza Strip, where the vast majority remain forcibly displaced & living in tents & half-standing buildings,” said Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the main UN agency in the Palestinian territories.

“92% of homes damaged or destroyed, & massive quantities of unexploded bombs still to be cleared,” Lazzarini posted on X.

Amid heavy winter rains, 24 people have been killed after their homes collapsed on them, according to Dr. Munir Al-Barsh, Director General of the Health Ministry.

Bodies weakened by hunger, lack of medicines and contaminated water have also caused widespread outbreaks of disease, Al-Barsh said in a Facebook post on Friday.

US President Donald Trump’s foreign envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday to discuss Gaza and the transition to the second phase of the truce, which should see the establishment of an international peacekeeping force and the disarmament of Hamas.

Malnutrition continues to affect pregnant women, Al Faraa said.

“Most babies are born with low birth weights because of mothers’ malnutrition during pregnancy, especially in the early months, as well as because of mothers’ anxiety and psychological stress, the absence of prenatal follow- up, and a lack of vitamins and nutritional supplements.”

The Israeli military continues to take action against alleged militants along the so-called Yellow Line inside Gaza that divides Israeli-controlled areas from those controlled by Hamas.

The Israel Defense Forces said Saturday that troops operating in the northern Gaza Strip had killed “several terrorists who crossed the Yellow Line, planted an explosive device in the area, and approached the troops.”

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