With purple lips and blotchy skin: Baby girl freezes to death in Gaza
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Sila's father, Mahmoud al-Faseeh, described his three-week-old daughter's lifeless body as “stiff as wood”.
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Mahmoud Al-Faseeh holds the body of his 3-week-old baby girl Sila as he arrives at the Naser Hospital in Khan Younis, on Wednesday, December 25, 2024. (AP)
A baby girl has tragically frozen to death in Gaza, and at least 10 people have been killed in airstrikes amid the ongoing Israeli genocide.
The three-week-old infant is the third to die from the cold in Gaza’s tent camps in recent days, according to doctors.
These deaths highlight the dire conditions in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are living in overcrowded, makeshift tents after being forcibly displaced many times due to relentless Israeli airstrikes and total blockade.
In yet another Israeli massacre, five Palestinians were killed and 20 injured in an Israeli airstrike targeting a house in Gaza City’s al-Zaytoun neighborhood early Thursday. Medics warned the death toll could rise as many remain trapped under the rubble.
Meanwhile, five journalists were tragically killed when Israeli occupation forces deliberately targeted their vehicle, clearly marked as "Press", near the al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat, central Gaza.
Health authorities confirmed the Israeli killings of the journalists and Palestinian media stated the vehicle was marked as a media van and used by journalists covering the harrowing Israeli atrocities in the hospital and the Nuseirat camp.
'She was like wood'
The father of three-week-old Sila, Mahmoud al-Faseeh, told the Associated Press that he wrapped her in a blanket to keep her warm in their tent in the Muwasi area, located outside Khan Younis. However, this wasn't enough to save her.
Al-Faseeh explained that the tent was not sealed against the wind, and the ground was cold, as temperatures dropped to 9°C (48°F) on Tuesday night. Muwasi is a barren region of dunes and farmland along Gaza's Mediterranean coast.
Palestinian infant Sila al-Fasih forced into a displacement tent in Mawasi in south Gaza tragically dies this morning due to the cold #Christmas pic.twitter.com/s4Gpe2Unz9
— Sarah Wilkinson (@swilkinsonbc) December 25, 2024
“It was very cold overnight, and as adults we couldn’t even take it. We couldn’t stay warm,” he said. Sila cried three times during the night, and by morning, they found her unresponsive and stiff.
“She was like wood,” al-Faseeh remarked. They rushed her to a field hospital, but doctors were unable to revive her, as her lungs had already deteriorated. The AP's images of Sila showed her with purple lips and blotchy pale skin.
Ahmed al-Farra, director of the children's ward at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, confirmed that Sila died from hypothermia. He added that two other babies—one three days old and the other a month old—had been brought to the hospital in the past 48 hours, also having succumbed to hypothermia.
Unbearable death toll
The ongoing Israeli bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza has resulted in the killing of over 45,361 Palestinians, with more than half of the martyrs being women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry.
The Israeli war has caused widespread destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, often multiple times.
As winter sets in, hundreds of thousands are crammed into tent camps along the coast. Aid organizations have struggled to provide food and supplies, facing shortages of blankets, warm clothing, and firewood amid the total Israeli blockade and relentless airstrikes, while international organizations warn of famine spreading across the Strip.
