KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — A family’s nylon tent offers little shelter as the December cold grips Gaza. So every night, Essaid Abdeen covered his frail newborn son with four blankets and periodically shined a flashlight into the baby’s eyes to make sure he was okay.
Until Wednesday night, 29-day-old Saeed’s petite body was unresponsive to the cold.
The baby, who was born prematurely and severely underweight, became the second baby to die from hypothermia at Al-Nasser Hospital in recent days, doctors said on Thursday. They warned that if conditions in tent camps home to thousands of Palestinians were not improved, others would soon appear.
“I was worried about him and trying to keep him warm. But it was cold,” the child’s mother, Rawya Abdeen, told The Associated Press on Thursday. Her screams of pain drew the attention of neighbors as doctors reported her son dead. “Why him?” she cried.
Dr. Ahmed al-Farra, chief of pediatrics at Al-Nasser Hospital, said the baby arrived late Wednesday night with a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), well below the level of hypothermia. Ahmed Farah said medical staff tried their best to save the child, but he died early Thursday.
Nighttime temperatures in Gaza have reached 6 degrees Celsius (43 degrees Fahrenheit) in recent days.
“We warn that unless a permanent solution is found for babies, especially premature babies, this tragedy will happen again as they are more vulnerable to falling temperatures,” Farah said. “They live in dilapidated tents, exposed to wind and cold weather, and lack all means to stay warm in these tents.”
Doctors say the cold is a particular threat to premature babies because their fat tissue is underdeveloped and their bodies quickly lose energy.
The baby’s death brings the death toll in Gaza to 13 since powerful storms hit the Strip last week, the health ministry said. They included 11 people who died when already damaged buildings collapsed due to heavy rain, and two children who died from the cold. The first baby to die from hypothermia was two-week-old Mohamed Khair, who was born after a full-term pregnancy.
Aid groups say not enough shelter materials are entering Gaza despite the current ceasefire being in place for two months. Recently released Israeli military data showed that it was not adhering to ceasefire rules that allowed 600 trucks to bring aid into Gaza each day, although Israel disputed the finding. U.S. officials, who are coordinating the U.S.-led delivery of aid to Gaza, also said deliveries had reached agreed-upon levels.
The vast majority of Gaza’s 2 million people have been displaced, with most living in tent camps stretching along the coast or in the rubble of damaged buildings. The buildings lack adequate flood protection infrastructure and people use cesspits dug near the tents as toilets.
The Abdeen couple said their makeshift tent in Muwaisi, southern Gaza, was often flooded by rain.
Rawya Abdeen said her son weighed just 1.3 kilograms (2.9 pounds) when he was born and spent two weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit.
When the boy’s father shined a light on him around 10pm on Wednesday, the boy did not squint as usual. His mother said an examination under the light revealed that the child was vomiting and the family rushed him to the hospital. His father said he prayed for Syed’s survival until doctors called in the morning to tell them the baby had died.
“I would give my soul to save him,” Esaid Abdeen said.
