In the second year of the Israeli genocide in Gaza, weather conditions added an additional element of suffering to the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians forcibly displaced, often repeatedly, while efforts to achieve a ceasefire fire achieves nothing.
Jumaa al-Batran, aged just 20 days, died of hypothermia, one of six Palestinian infants who died from cold and cold in recent days in Gaza, according to doctors – their deaths underscoring the seriousness of the situation for vulnerable families.
International aid agencies say Israeli forces have hampered aid deliveries, worsening the humanitarian crisis.
“Since I’m an adult, I can accept this and put up with it, but what did the young person do to deserve this? Jumaa’s mother, said Noura al-Batran. “He couldn’t stand it, he couldn’t stand the cold, nor the hunger and this despair.”
Dozens of tents, many already in tatters after months of use, were blown away or flooded by high winds and rain, leaving families struggling to repair the damage, repair torn plastic sheets and accumulate sand to retain water.
It is another aspect of the humanitarian crisis facing Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, victims of relentless Israeli bombings, which have killed more than 45,500 Palestinians, according to Gaza officials, and transformed the enclave in a desert of rubble.
The United Nations relief agency for the Palestinians, UNRWA, said on Sunday that aid was far from enough and that a ceasefire was desperately needed to deal with the threat of a famine.
Earlier this month, Israeli and Hamas leaders expressed hope that talks brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the United States could produce an agreement to end the fighting. But optimistic talk of a deal before the end of the year has faded.
