January 8, 2025

“It is tragically foreseeable that more children’s lives will be lost to the inhumane conditions they are enduring, which offer no protection from the cold”. (UNICEF)

As anticipated by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other humanitarian and child-focused organizations, the number of newborns losing their lives in the Gaza Strip continues to rise daily due to “the inhumane conditions they are enduring, which offer no protection from the cold”. These conditions are perpetuated by Israel, which keeps the “supplies which would protect them (the children) stuck in the region for months waiting for approval from the Israeli authorities to get into Gaza, according to UNRWA.

Yousef Ahmad Anwar Kalloub, a 35 days old infant who passed away on Monday, January 6, is one of eight children who froze to death due to the extreme cold and the occupation’s blockade on essential aid. Before him, the mother of twins Jumaa and Ali Al-Batran desperately tried to wake them in their tattered tent in Deir Al-Balah, but they did not respond. The child Jumaa passed away immediately,his body becoming as cold as a block of wood, and his brother followed the next day.

Within just one week, several other newborns passed away due to severe cold including Aisha Al-Qassas (21 days old), Ali Essam Saqr (23 days old), Ali Hossam Azzam (4 days old), and Seela Al-Faseeh (14 days old).

International organizations and United Nations agencies agree on the Israeli obstruction of aid delivery, a policy that has been followed since the onset of the genocide. In this context, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) had emphasized that “winter-related deaths are preventable”, noting that it had “delivered nearly 180,000 emergency shelter items to partners inside Gaza since mid-November and has over 1.5 million more winter supplies – sealing-off kits, tents, bedding kits – ready at warehouses and entry points, but severe access restrictions prevent them from reaching those in need”.

This is confirmed by the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, who stated: blankets, mattresses and other winter supplies have been stuck in the region for months waiting for approval to get into Gaza. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) also clarified that the systematic restrictions on access have severely hindered the delivery of aid, with only 285,000 people receiving shelter assistance since September. The Shelter Cluster estimated that, by mid-December 2024, at least 945,000 Gaza residents remain in urgent need of winter aid, including thermal clothing, blankets, and tarpaulins to insulate shelters from rain and cold.

As we lose children and newborns in the Gaza Strip, amidst the dire need for the already scarce aid to flow, the occupation is moving forward with the implementation of the Knesset bill, which is set to prohibit the operations of UNRWA in the occupied Palestinian territories, and is expected to come into effect in less than four weeks. In this context, Lazzarini emphasized that this action is “a part of broader efforts to erase Palestinian history and identity”.

All of this takes place within the context of the Israeli genocide against the people of Gaza and its children, which has now completed its fifteenth month. While official Palestinian statistics report more than 160,000 martyrs, injured individuals, and dozens of missing persons, the vast majority of whom are women and children, international organizations and doctors working or having worked in the Gaza Strip point out that the actual numbers of victims, including martyrs, the injured, and the missing, are much higher.

In northern Gaza, since 6 October 2024, the occupation army has been carrying out a ground offensive and continue to impose a tight siege. Intense military operations are ongoing amid a near total lack of humanitarian aid entering the area, in addition to severe communications and internet disruptions. In this context, UNOCHA reported that between 6 October and 30 December 2024, the UN attempted to reach besieged areas in North Gaza 164 times; of these, 148 attempts were denied by the Israeli authorities and 16 were impeded.

The same applies to the far south of the Strip, where OCHA reported that “coordinated aid missions to areas in Rafah governorate have faced similar challenges, with 36 out of the 38 coordinated requests submitted to Israeli authorities between 1 and 30 December denied, one facing impediments, and one facilitated.

In addition, food security continues to deteriorate especially among children and women. More than 96 per cent of all children aged six to 23 months and pregnant and breastfeeding women are not meeting their basic nutrient requirements, with a sharp deterioration in dietary diversity observed over the past four months, particularly in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis, according to UNICEF.