DaysofPal – Inside a thin, rain-soaked tent in southern Gaza, Eman Abu al-Khair sits clutching a small bag of infant clothes, her face drained of color, tears falling without pause. Her newborn son, Mohammed, died a day earlier from hypothermia. He was just 14 days old.
“I can still hear his tiny cries,” the 34-year-old mother says quietly. “I fall asleep and wake up unable to believe that he will never cry again, never wake me at night.”
Mohammed’s short life ended in al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis, where the family had taken shelter after being displaced from eastern Khan Younis by Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza. Like thousands of other families, they were living in a tent with no insulation, limited clothing, and no reliable access to transportation or medical care.
Late on the night of December 13, after Eman put her baby to sleep, temperatures dropped sharply as rain continued to fall. When she checked on him hours later, she immediately knew something was wrong.
“His body was ice cold,” she recalls. “His hands and feet were frozen, his face had turned yellow, and he was barely breathing.”
She woke her husband, Khalil, and they tried desperately to reach a hospital. But in the middle of the night, with roads flooded and no transport available, they were unable to leave. Walking was impossible.
By morning, they placed the baby on an animal-drawn cart and rushed toward the Red Crescent Hospital in Khan Younis. It was already too late.
Doctors described Mohammed’s condition as critical. His face had turned blue, and he was suffering convulsions. He was placed on a ventilator in the paediatric intensive care unit, where he remained for two days before dying on December 15.
“My baby was healthy,” Eman says through tears. “He had no illness. His tiny body just couldn’t survive the cold inside the tents.”
A growing toll
Gaza’s Ministry of Health later confirmed that Mohammed Khalil Abu al-Khair died from acute hypothermia caused by extreme cold and harsh living conditions. With his death, the number of children who have died from cold exposure in Gaza this month rose to four, following three similar deaths reported the previous week.
Health officials have warned that many more children, elderly people, and chronically ill patients remain at risk as winter conditions worsen inside displacement camps.
Munir al-Bursh, director general of the Ministry of Health, said moisture, standing water, and poor ventilation inside tents are creating a dangerous environment where respiratory illnesses spread rapidly, while access to healthcare remains severely limited.
From joy to grief
Mohammed was born on December 1, a rare moment of happiness for a family that had endured months of displacement, hunger, and fear.
“My pregnancy was extremely difficult,” Eman says. “There was famine, exhaustion, and constant stress. But when he was born healthy, all of that disappeared. I never imagined we would lose him after two weeks.”
She describes how she wrapped her newborn in every piece of clothing and blanket she could find, while Khalil tried to seal the tent’s openings with plastic sheets.
“But what can cloth and nylon really do?” she asks, gesturing around her. “The cold is unbearable. Every morning, water seeps up from under our bedding.”
Mohammed was the couple’s second child. Their daughter, Mona, is two years old and has known nothing but war.
“When we came back from the burial, she asked me, ‘Where is the baby?’” Eman says, holding her daughter close. “Every time she asks, it breaks me again.”
This is not a life
Despite a ceasefire announced in October, little reconstruction has taken place. Most residential buildings in Gaza have been destroyed, and Israel continues to restrict reconstruction materials while carrying out periodic attacks.
As a result, the conditions that led to Mohammed’s death remain unchanged.
Eman now lives in constant fear for her daughter. She says she rarely sleeps, checking on her repeatedly throughout the night.
“I cover her with everything I have,” she says. “I feel a fire burning in my heart.”
She struggles to understand how long Gaza’s children will be forced to endure such conditions.
“This is not a life,” she says quietly. “Our children are dying in every possible way, bombs, hunger, cold. My child is not the first, and he will not be the last.”
Her final questions hang unanswered.
“We don’t want anything extraordinary,” Eman says. “Just a dignified life for our children. Where is the shelter? Where are the housing units? Why is no one moving to save us?”
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