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Four babies have died from the cold since November, as power cuts disable incubators and families in flooded tents struggle to keep their children alive.
In the bitter cold of a Gaza winter, two-month-old Mohammed Abu Harbid has become the latest victim of Israel’s genocidal war that has stripped Palestinians of shelter, warmth and survival.
Zaher al-Wahidi, director of health information at the Ministry of Health, told Al Jazeera the infant died from severe hypothermia at al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital.
His death brings the number of children who have frozen to death in the enclave since November 2025 to four, and 12 since the start of the genocidal war in October 2023.
As severe depression brings torrential rain and freezing winds to the coastal enclave, thousands of displaced families are facing a catastrophic humanitarian emergency, with the most vulnerable paying the highest price.
Incubators without batteries
At al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp, a newly opened neonatal ward is fighting a losing battle to keep premature babies alive.
The ward, established in early 2026 to meet soaring demand, receives about 17 infants daily. But Ahmed Abu Shaira, a medical staff member, says they are operating with one hand tied behind their back.
“We face many dilemmas, including a scarcity of medical equipment,” Abu Shaira told Al Jazeera Mubasher correspondent Talal al-Arouqi. “Some incubators come to us without batteries … the occupation forces the entry of incubators without batteries.”
This is a death sentence in a facility plagued by chronic power outages. During Al Jazeera’s visit, the electricity cut out more than five times in less than an hour.
“We try to reach a certain temperature for the child, but every time we do, the power cuts,” Abu Shaira explained. Without the internal batteries that Israeli restrictions have banned, the incubators go cold the instant the generator fails.
Compounding the crisis is a lack of medication to help premature lungs develop and a severe shortage of baby formula.
“We are now receiving babies born before 37 weeks … due to early labour caused by the mothers’ poor health,” Abu Shaira added. “These babies are prone to hypothermia … which can lead to death.”
Standing like pillars
Outside the hospitals, the situation is equally dire. In western Gaza City, the Kafarna family’s struggle for survival is measured in sleepless nights spent holding up their tent against the wind.
“When we hear the word ‘depression’, we start shaking … it’s like the horrors of doomsday,” the father told Al Jazeera Mubasher’s Ayman al-Hissi, standing inside a tent with balding fabric that offers little protection from the elements.
“Our bedding is soaked … My daughters are sick from the cold,” he said. “Illness is spreading among the children.”
The storm on Saturday night nearly destroyed their fragile shelter.
“I stood all night holding this pole, and my wife and daughters leaned against the wooden beams to brace against the wind,” the father recounted. “We took turns holding the tent … water was coming in from above and below.”
‘Just a piece of cloth’
The mother, exhausted and surrounded by sick children, described their shelter as a “piece of cloth” that hides them from view but protects them from nothing.
“I can’t even get medicine for my sick daughter … every time the wind blows, the tent snaps,” she said.
Their daughter, Waad, huddled in a tracksuit donated by a charity, has only one wish: a better tent.
“I wish they would bring us a ‘dome tent’ to protect us from the cold and rain,” Waad told Al Jazeera. “We [nearly] drowned last night … I wish I could go back to school.”
Her mother recalled a terrifying moment when Waad fell ill at night. “She was vomiting from her mouth and nose, and I couldn’t even find a light to see her … I didn’t know how to help her.”
As the winter conditions worsen, the family’s plea is simple yet desperate: “We appeal to anyone with a conscience … send us caravans, send us tents … anything to cover us from the cold.”
