Palestinian baby dies from cold in Gaza amid Israeli restrictions on aid

A Palestinian infant has died from the cold in a tent sheltering his displaced family in southern Gaza, his father and a doctor said, as Israel continues to impose severe restrictions on winter supplies to the war-ravaged territory. Nine-month-old Kinan Ahmed Raqiq “died from hypothermia” in Khan Younis, in the southern region of the enclave, a doctor who spoke on he condition of anonymity told the AFP news agency on Thursday.

“I woke up only to see his skin had turned blue so I rushed him to Nasser Hospital, but he had already died from hypothermia and frozen to death,” he said. “I am in complete shock.

I found myself holding my son wrapped in a burial shroud,” he said outside the hospital, dried tears on his face as he held his son wrapped in a white sheet. Gaza’s Civil Defence spokesman, Mahmoud Basal, confirmed the infant’s death after exposure to extreme cold, Palestinian news network Al-Quds reported.