GAZA, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- At least three Palestinian infants have died in the past few hours in the Gaza Strip due to severe cold and the absence of adequate heating in their shelters, a medical official said Tuesday.
Saeed Salah, director of the Friends of the Patient Charitable Hospital in Gaza City, told Xinhua that the infants, all under two months old, arrived at the hospital in a state of hypothermia.
"Their bodies were like ice cubes," he said, explaining that the children had been living in makeshift tents in Gaza City without any proper heating.
The extreme cold caused a sharp drop in their blood circulation, leading to respiratory failure, heart complications, and organ dysfunction, and eventually their deaths.
Saeed warned of a growing humanitarian crisis, stressing the urgent need for adequate shelter and heating for infants and other vulnerable residents in Gaza.
"The number of deaths is rising among children living in tents made of cloth and nylon, especially as the cold weather persists," he added.
Gaza has been experiencing a harsh cold wave in recent days, with strong winds, heavy rain, and plummeting temperatures.
The extreme weather has uprooted hundreds of tents and flooded many displacement camps, exacerbating the suffering of thousands of families.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) had previously warned of the increasing risks to newborns in Gaza, reporting that 7,700 infants lack the medical care necessary for survival amid worsening conditions and a severe shortage of safe shelters. ■
