AhlulBayt News Agency: Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has warned of increasing child deaths in Gaza due to severe cold weather, compounded by Israeli restrictions on humanitarian aid entering the Strip.
In a statement released Thursday, MSF urged immediate action to accelerate the delivery of relief supplies to help Palestinians in Gaza endure successive winter storms.
MSF reported: “Last night, a 29-day-old baby died at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, just two hours after arriving at the MSF-supported pediatric ward. Despite medical efforts, the infant could not be saved. According to the Ministry of Health, the cause of death was hypothermia.”
Bilal Abu Saada, nursing team supervisor at Nasser Hospital, was quoted by MSF as saying: “Children are dying because they lack the most basic survival items. Babies arrive at the hospital cold, with vital signs near death. Even our best efforts are not enough. They say the war has ended, but people are still fighting for their lives.”
MSF explained that the harsh winter weather, combined with dire living conditions, is worsening health risks. Teams are consistently seeing high rates of respiratory infections, which are expected to rise throughout winter and pose particular danger to children under five.
The organization added: “As Gaza is battered by heavy rains and storms, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians continue to struggle in flooded, broken makeshift tents.”
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