As Israeli bombardments continue in the Gaza Strip, the already dire humanitarian situation is worsening due to the winter. The freezing cold and rain are falling on the displaced people who have been living in tents for months. On Monday, December 30, the local Ministry of Health announced that at least seven children died of cold in one week.
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In the overcrowded al-Mawassi camp in the southern Gaza Strip, Ahmad Hamdan bustles around the tent where he lives with his wife and four children. They were all awakened in the night when their shelter was flooded in the middle of a downpour. Now we have to repair it.
“ A piece of wood costs 70 shekels (around twenty dollars). The price is the same for a kilo of nails, a sheet costs the equivalent of 200 dollars », explains the thirty-year-old to Rami Al MeghariRFI correspondent in the Gaza Strip. Ahmad Hamdan deplores having received no help, even though in recent weeks temperatures have dropped to 8°C. Drops accompanied by heavy rain.
In the Red Crescent field hospital, a doctor examines Sanad, a little boy who is not yet two years old. “ He vomited all night and has a feversays his mother. How can I warm him up when we only have a blanket? » The young mother explains that her child has been coughing for three days and is suffering from diarrhea: he has to change his clothes and wash them, but it is impossible to dry them in the tent in the middle of winter.
The doctor who examines little Sanad receives dozens of sick children every day. Most are affected by respiratory infections and gastroenteritis. They suffer from a lack of medicines, in insufficient quantities in the territory.
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“ Real threat for two million displaced people »
The press service of the Hamas government in Gaza warned on Monday January 30 of the impact of a severe weather depression expected in the coming days. This constitutes a “ real threat for two million displaced people “. Doctor Ahmad Al-Farra, director of the emergency and pediatric department at Nasser Hospital, warns of the possibility of an increase in deaths among children, infants and the elderly.
Twenty-day-old Aisha al-Qassas also died of cold in al-Mawassi, according to her family. “ In Gaza, everything leads to deathdeplores Mohamed al-Qassas, his uncle. Those who do not die under Israeli bombings succumb to hunger or cold. »
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“ More than 1 500 tents flooded »
Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced in the Palestinian coastal strip since the start of the war and are often reduced to living in makeshift tents unsuitable for winter conditions. “ More than 1,500 tents sheltering displaced people flooded in camps across Gaza », alerts the Gaza Civil Defense after a wave of bad weather in recent days.
“ We haven’t slept for three days for fear that our children will get sick because of the winter, but also that missiles will fall on us “, says Samah Darabieh, who lives in the Beit Lahia camp in northern Gaza.
The Israeli body overseeing civil affairs in Palestinian territories occupied (Cogat) announced, Wednesday January 1, that 55 patients, the majority of whom were children, had been evacuated from Palestinian territory, with 72 accompanying people, to be treated in the United Arab Emirates. “ More than 12 000 patients still in need of medical evacuation out of Gaza », Underlines the World Health Organization, which is participating in this operation.
At least 45,581 people have been killed in the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to a latest report from the Hamas Ministry of Health, whose data is considered reliable by theUN.
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