A fourth infant dies of the winter cold in Gaza as families share blankets in seaside tents

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — A fourth infant has died of hypothermia in the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by nearly 15 months of war are huddled in tents along the rainy, windswept coast as winter arrives.

Jomaa al-Batran, 20 days old, was found with his head as “cold as ice” when his parents woke up Sunday, his father, Yehia, said. The baby's twin brother, Ali, was moved to the intensive care unit of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

Their father said the twins were born one month premature and spent just a day in the nursery at the hospital, which like other health centers in Gaza has been overwhelmed and is only partially functioning.

He said medics told their mother to keep the newborns warm, but it was impossible because they live in a tent and temperatures regularly drop below 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit) at night.

“We are eight people, and we only have four blankets,” al-Batran said as he cradled his son’s pale body. He described drops of dew seeping through the tent cover overnight. “Look at his color because the cold. Do you see how frozen he is?”

Children, some of them barefoot, stood outdoors and watched him mourn. The shrouded infant was laid at the feet of an imam, barely larger than his shoes. After prayers, the imam took off his ankle-length coat and wrapped it around the father.

At least three other babies have died from the cold in recent weeks, according to local health officials.

A Palestinian woman is killed at home in the West Bank

A Palestinian woman was shot and killed in her home in the volatile West Bank town of Jenin, where the Palestinian Authority is carrying out a rare campaign against militants.

The family of Shatha al-Sabbagh, a 22-year-old journalism student, said she was killed by a sniper with the Palestinian security forces late Saturday while she was with her mother and two small children. They said there were no militants in the area at the time.

A statement from the Palestinian security forces said she was shot by “outlaws” — the term it uses for local militants battling Israeli forces in recent years. The security forces condemned the shooting and vowed to investigate it.

The Western-backed Palestinian Authority exercises limited self-rule in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It is deeply unpopular among Palestinians, largely because it cooperates with Israel on security matters, even as Israel accuses it of incitement and of generally turning a blind eye to militancy.

In a statement, the al-Sabbagh family accused the Palestinian security forces of having become “repressive tools that practice terrorism against their own people instead of protecting their dignity and standing up to the (Israeli) occupation.”

The Hamas militant group also blamed the security forces and noted that al-Sabbagh was the sister of one of its fighters who was killed in a battle with Israeli troops last year.

Later on Sunday, hundreds of people took part in a demonstration in Jenin in support of the Palestinian security forces. The rally was organized by President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, which dominates the Palestinian Authority.

Palestinian security forces launched a rare operation earlier this month in Jenin that they said was aimed at restoring law and order, while critics accuse the authority of aiding the occupation.

Violence has flared in the West Bank since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza triggered the war there. Israel captured the West Bank, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories for a future state.

Israeli report details abuse of hostages held in Gaza

The Oct. 7 attack killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250, including women, children and older adults. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third believed to be dead.

Israel’s Health Ministry released a report late Saturday detailing what it said was widespread physical, psychological and sexual abuse of people who had been held in Gaza.

The report, based on the findings of doctors who treated some of the more than 100 hostages released during a ceasefire last year, said the captives — including children — had been subjected to “severe physical and sexual abuse, such as beatings, isolation, deprivation of food and water, branding, hair-pulling and sexual assault.”

The findings, which will be sent to the United Nations, could increase pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire and hostage release with Hamas. Families of the hostages and their supporters have held weekly mass demonstrations for months, and diplomats have reported recent progress in the long-running indirect talks.

Strike on a hospital in Gaza City kills 7

An Israeli strike on the upper floor of a hospital in Gaza City on Sunday killed at least seven people and wounded several others, according to the Civil Defense, first responders affiliated with the Hamas-run government. The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas control center inside the building, which it said was no longer serving as a hospital.

Israel’s offensive has killed over 45,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 100,000, according to local health authorities. They say women and children make up more than half the deaths but do not distinguish between militants and civilians in their count. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

Israel's bombardment and ground operations have displaced some 90% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million people, often multiple times. Vast areas of the territory, including entire neighborhoods, are in ruins, and critical infrastructure has been destroyed.

Israeli restrictions, ongoing fighting and the breakdown of law and order have hindered the delivery of humanitarian aid, raising fears of famine, while widespread hunger has left people at greater risk of disease and death.

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Mohammed reported from Jenin, West Bank. Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel contributed to this report.

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