Gaza, 9 January 2025 — Seven Palestinian newborns have died of hyperthermia in Gaza in the span of 14 days. Al Mezan was able to obtain information about six of these children: Aisha Al-Qassas (21 days), Ali Issam Saqr (23 days), Ali Hussam Azzam (4 days), Sila Mahmoud Al-Fasih (22 days), Jomaa Yehya Al-Batran (30 days), and Yousef Kalloub (35 days). Each number reflects the child’s age at the time of their deaths.

Al Mezan stresses that these deaths are a direct consequence of the conditions of life imposed by Israel, which has deliberately inflicted conditions calculated to bring about the physical destruction of the population in Gaza, driving over a million Palestinian children to live in makeshift tents.

Over the past 15 months, continuous Israeli military attacks on Gaza, coupled with the total siege on the territory and repeated issuance of mass displacement orders, have forced a little less than two million Palestinians to flee their homes—often multiple times, with no belongings. Displaced families are now living in catastrophic humanitarian conditions, cramped into inadequate tents and makeshift shelters that lack necessities, including proper winterization. On 31 December 2024, UNRWA reported that heavy rainfall flooded over 100 tents in Khan Younis.

The following testimonies concern three infants who died in their tents in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, where thousands of families were forcibly displaced and now live under extremely harsh conditions in flimsy makeshift tents within overcrowded camps.

Adnan Sufian Yahya Al-Qassas, who lost his 21-day-old daughter, Aisha, to the cold, described the unbearable loss to Al Mezan’s fieldworker:

"On 20 December 2024, we were playing with Aisha as usual. I stayed awake until 4 a.m. that night and everything seemed normal. Aisha slept between me and her mother. At 7 a.m., her mother woke up to carry her, only to find her lifeless—her tiny body stiff and her face pale and blue. I rushed her to the UK-funded field hospital in Al-Mawasi, Khan Younis, where they informed me she had succumbed to the freezing temperatures inside our tent. From there, we were transferred to Nasser Hospital, where they attempted to revive her, but it was too late. She was unresponsive—like a block of ice. I buried my daughter in a cemetery near Nasser Hospital.”

Similarly, Mahmoud Ismail Ibrahim Al-Fasih, a father from Gaza City, recounts the heartbreaking loss of his newborn daughter, Sila, 22 days. He told Al Mezan:

“On 25 December 2024, approximately 22 days after the birth of my daughter Sila, she was sleeping peacefully and woke up at around 3:00 am to nurse from her mother before falling back to sleep. At around 7:00 am, I went to gather some wood to start a fire to warm the baby’s milk. When I checked on her, I found her frozen, blood coming from her mouth, her body stiff, and her face turning blue. I was in shock when I saw her. I rushed her to the UK field hospital, where they told me that she had died from the cold and her heart had stopped. They transferred us by ambulance to Nasser Medical Complex, where the doctor confirmed that the cause of death was the extreme cold. I then took her and buried her in a cemetery near the hospital.”

In another testimony, Safaa Al-Rantisi, a mother from Khan Younis, shared about the devastating loss of her 35-day-old son, Yousef:

"On 3 January 2025, our lives were shattered. The day began like any other. Yousef stayed awake with me until 2 a.m., and I nursed him before he fell asleep as usual. At 4 a.m., I woke up to check on him. To my shock, I found his body ice-cold, as though he had been in a refrigerator. His lips were blue, and his small body was stiff and lifeless. In a state of panic, I tried desperately to wake him. My husband quickly took him to Nasser Hospital, but it was too late. The doctor informed us that Yousef had died from the severe cold. Later, the Ministry of Health confirmed that he was the eighth child to die from hypothermia in the tents. We buried him in a nearby cemetery.”

The death of these infants highlights Israel’s calculated strategy to enforce unendurable living conditions in Gaza, aiming to bring about the physical destruction of its 2.3 million Palestinians. The restrictions on the entry of urgently needed winter clothing, heating supplies, and shelter-related items have had a devastating impact on displaced families. These harsh winter conditions have proven fatal for Gaza’s newborns.

Al Mezan is shocked by the deaths of these seven Palestinian babies and stresses that unless the international community takes concrete action to end Israel’s genocide, more deaths will inevitably follow. These incidents are not isolated but instead expose the horrific reality endured by countless internally displaced families in Gaza, who live under the constant threat of death from a multifaceted pattern of genocidal acts perpetrated by Israeli forces and authorities, including mass killings, the infliction of serious bodily or mental harm, and the deliberate imposition of conditions of life designed to bring about their physical destruction.

Al Mezan calls on the international community to take immediate and decisive action to end Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, immediately lift the total siege and blockade of Gaza, and facilitate the entry of unconditional and uninterrupted humanitarian aid to prevent further deaths from cold and the survival of Palestinian families.