As temperatures dropped in Gaza, this family took refuge in a 1.5-meter-deep hole under their tent

During the last nine months of the war in Gaza, Noura Al-Batran was pregnant with twins. The 38-year-old was displaced several times with her husband and children while dodging bombs and gunfire and taking shelter in a tent in the town of Deir al-Balah.

On December 6, Al-Batran gave birth to her twin sons, Jumaa and Ali, in Al-Aqsa Hospital in the town.

But two weeks later, Jumaa died of hypothermia as the cold weather set in, and Al-Batran struggled to keep her children warm under the tarps in her tent at night.

She told independent videographer Muhammad Al-Seifi: “Because of the cold, my children stopped moving and stopped breastfeeding.” “It’s very difficult…it’s very cold.”

Cold weather and heavy rain have hit much of the Gaza Strip in recent weeks, leaving many Palestinians living in tents vulnerable, with one father digging a hole under his tent to provide shelter for his family.

Jumaa was among eight children who died of hypothermia in recent weeks, according to Dr. Ahmed Al-Farra at Nasser Medical Complex.

In the second winter of the war in Gaza, the weather added an additional element of suffering for hundreds of thousands of people who were displaced.

Temperatures drop to about 10 to 15 degrees Celsius at night in Gaza at this time of year.

A a report The UN Relief and Works Agency, published by UNRWA in January, says children are dying of hypothermia due to lack of access to basic supplies that do not reach across the border to civilians in Gaza.

The report stated, “Supplies that would protect them have been stuck in the area for months, awaiting approval from the Israeli authorities to enter Gaza.”

Infants are at greater risk of hypothermia because they lose heat faster than adults. Many of them had to spend long hours in wet and cold weather in Gaza, both of which can lead to hypothermia. According to To health workers.

Al-Batran sits in her tent, with her son Ali in her arms, and remembers the day she found Jumah’s lifeless body next to her.

The night before, she said, she wrapped Juma in as many blankets as possible, leaving only his nose exposed so he could breathe, and put a hot water bottle in his blankets to try to keep him warm.

Al-Batin said: “I woke up at six in the morning and found my son blue, frozen and not breathing.” “I felt guilty because my child died in front of my eyes from the cold and I could not do anything for him.”

Al-Farra, head of the pediatrics department at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, said that the eight children who died were less than a month old.

“The situation is critical and very dangerous. (Newborns) are unable to protect themselves from severe hypothermia because they are fragile babies,” he told Al-Saif newspaper.

Children are more susceptible to hypothermia

Al-Farra said that these children are already vulnerable to hypothermia even if they live in buildings suffering from heat. “So what will happen when they are in a tent without any furniture, electricity, or any fuel for heating?”

Al-Farra said that he sees four to five cases of children suffering from hypothermia every day at Nasser Hospital.

While the hospital is doing everything it can to keep the babies warm and advising parents on how to keep them warm, he said some are arriving already dead, like Juma.

Al-Batran is among hundreds of mothers trying to survive the winter with their families. She said her older children sleep clinging to each other, using body heat to keep warm while she focuses on one-month-old Ali.

“The nights are very cold, people are living in makeshift tents, and every time it’s very windy, it rains inside their tents,” Amanda Bazerolle, MSF’s emergency coordinator, told CBC News.

Bazrul said that last winter, many of the displaced were in Rafah, where buildings were still standing and people could take shelter.

“Today, most of the population lives in tents or makeshift tents, so they are more vulnerable, more exposed to the elements,” Bazerolle said.

In a post by L XThe official Israeli unit charged with coordinating humanitarian initiatives, COGAT, said it was working with partners “to facilitate essential supplies and winter equipment being delivered to Gaza.” The publication added that 8,400 tons of winter materials entered the Gaza Strip during the past three months, “including heating equipment, blankets, coats, and clothing.”

Take shelter from the cold

In Khan Yunis, a concerned father tries to protect his children from the cold by going underground.

Tayseer Obaid dug a hole two meters wide and 1.5 meters deep under his tent to provide his ten children with shelter from bad weather.

The holes, which he said people refer to as “grave-like,” are lined with plastic tarps to try to prevent sand from falling onto the beds.

He built shelves to hold the family’s meager belongings and sand ladders so the children could get in and out more easily.

Above the ground, he strung together two tents to house his family. Both only have plastic fabrics for the cover. In the midst of all this, he made two swings for his children to play on. He said it took 60 days to dig the hole.

He told Al-Saif newspaper, “This was a daily routine for me. A difficult and exhausting daily routine.” “The ground is hard and difficult, and there were days when we were tired.”

Back in Deir al-Balah, the Patriarch holds her surviving son, Ali, in her arms.

The one-month-old baby is wrapped in several blankets after his recent visit to the intensive care unit at Al-Aqsa Hospital with symptoms of hypothermia.

With few options available to her, the mother relied on hot water bottles that she placed in his blankets to keep the child warm. But those only last a short time before they cool down.

She said she fled the war in northern Gaza, and faced destruction, cold and hunger in central Gaza.

“How can anyone live like this?” she said. “How do I keep my children warm?”