DEIR AL-BALAH (AP) – A fourth infant died of hypothermia in the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by nearly 15 months of war huddle in tents as winter arrives.
Jomaa al-Batran, 20 days old, was found with his head as “cold as ice” early on Sunday, his father, Yehia, said. The baby’s twin brother, Ali, was moved to intensive care at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Their father said they were born one month premature and spent just a day in the nursery at the hospital, which like other Gaza health centres were overwhelmed and only partially functioning. He said medics told their mother to keep the newborns warm, but it was impossible because they live in a tent and temperatures regularly drop below 10 degrees Celsius at night.
“We are eight people, and we only have four blankets,” al-Batran said as he cradled his son’s pale body. He described drops of dew seeping through the tent overnight. “Look at his colour because (of) the cold. Do you see how frozen he is?”
The shrouded infant was laid at the feet of an imam for prayers. Then the imam took off his ankle-length coat and wrapped it around the father.
“Feel warm, my brother,” he said.
