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WHAT IT’S TRULY LIKE TO SLEEP IN A DAMP, FRIGID GAZA TENT  
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Abubaker Abed
January 1, 2025
Dropsite News
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_ Five newborns have died of hypothermia amid the cold in Gaza.
Doctors tell Drop Site the deaths are a direct result of Israel's
blockades _

The streets of Deir al-Balah, where thousands of families set up
their tents., Photo: Abubaker Abed.

 

DEIR AL-BALAH, GAZA—On the morning of Dec 28th, Yahya Al-Batraan, a
40-year-old father of five sons and three daughters, got up in his
dilapidated tent in Deir al-Balah’s western parts near the beach to
find his 1-month-old baby, Jomaa, had frozen to death. His twin
brother was hospitalized for hypothermia at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital
and faces a similar fate. Al-Batraan was displaced from Beit Lahia a
year ago. His two brothers and many of his relatives were killed
before his eyes. His house was razed to the ground after Israeli
troops invaded and annihilated the camp.

Six people have frozen to death in Gaza during the past week, where
the low temperatures have reached the low 40s in Fahrenheit—or about
8 degrees Celsius; five were infants less than a month old.
Al-Batraan’s newborn baby will not be the last to die from
hypothermia as conditions continue to deteriorate in the besieged
territory.

“My wife and I got up in the morning. We checked the children as
always. But my 1-month-old twin didn’t show any vital signs at all.
When I touched him, his body was like a bottle of ice. I took him and
rushed to the hospital on foot because I didn’t have the money for a
taxi or even an animal-drawn cart. Doctors instantly told me that he
passed away. I couldn’t hold my senses and burst into tears. Just
moments later, my wife rang me to inform me that the other twin
wasn’t breathing. We took him to the hospital. He is now under the
resuscitation devices inside the ICU. However, doctors told me that he
would die in the upcoming hours,” Al-Batraan said, as he choked in
pain.

“I live with my family and my paralyzed parents in a tiny, flimsy
tent made from torn blankets and pieces of nylon near the sea. We only
have four mattresses and four blankets. All are so ripped apart. As it
gets colder at night, I collect some garbage to set up a fire to heat
the tent for the children. My children and I only wear one or two
pieces of old clothing. We are always shivering with cold during the
night hours. I sleep most nights without blankets and just put on my
sweater.

“The babies’ mother can’t breastfeed them because she is
severely malnourished and suffers from hypertension. Therefore,
they’re both 1.6 kg. We barely eat one time a day, and we get our
meal from one of the nearby free food distribution centers. One of my
children has a trauma of looking at the sand because she has been
eating Dugga for the past 14 months. We have no food, no water, no
clothes, and no medications. Literally nothing. My tent has been
flooded by the rain and blown away by the wind. And I am just waiting
for the death of my other baby. I can’t take more heartbreaks,” he
told Drop Site News.

“The hardest thing someone can ever endure is to see their children
dying in front of them. There are no words to describe this feeling.
But I went through it. My message to the world is that we’ve lost
our dignity and everything. We need warmth and peace. Someone has to
stop this genocide.”

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The streets of Deir al-Balah, where thousands of families set up their
tents. Photo: Abubaker Abed.

Dr. Syed is an American emergency doctor who spent nearly a month in
Gaza volunteering at Gaza’s hospitals, particularly Al-Aqsa Martyrs
Hospital in Deir al-Balah. She says that she is not shocked that
babies are dying from the cold—the living conditions she witnessed
are harsh and these babies live on the seaside where temperatures
significantly drop. She also insists that Israel’s banning of
building materials, which prevents building proper dwellings, amounted
to their deaths.

“Dwellings need to be more secure. The humanitarian safe zone is
neither humanitarian nor safe since most of the casualties we’ve
been receiving are from there. If we want to end this, we need an
immediate ceasefire and allow aid and decent containers and building
materials in. It’s a huge difficulty for newborn babies to maintain
their temperatures when they live under horrible circumstances and
without basic human needs,” Dr. Syed explained to Drop site News.

“I’ve been in some people’s tents, and I can imagine the
suffering against the backdrop of the extreme wind and rain,” she
added. “Also, people don’t have good clothing to be insulated from
the cold. Nor can they provide the medications to prevent hypothermia.
Consequently, there is a dire need to allow shelter and proper
nutrition in, which is just a basic human right. Almost every child I
saw at the hospital here has malnutrition signs and patches of
hypopigmentation on their skin and hair as well as some sort of
inflammatory infectious conditions, let alone the gastrointestinal
illnesses they are contracting because of terrible water
contamination. I saw an infant who just kept coming to the hospital
due to diarrhea, which is a result of the same living conditions. The
future for children will be very bleak. There is actually no
future.”

Dr. Khalid Abu-Habel, a volunteer emergency doctor at Al-Aqsa Martyrs
Hospital, has been tirelessly working since the outbreak of Israel’s
genocidal war. He describes the situation in Gaza as “unbearable”
and “unsolvable” amid Israel’s continued blockade of the
crossings. “In the open air along the sea line, temperatures hugely
drop. So, it is almost impossible to protect them even if they have
the clothes,” he told Drop Site News.

“People in Gaza live in tents,” he continued. “Most are along
the sealine. The environment they are living in plays a major role in
their suffering. Therefore, hypothermia is an anticipated result of
the conditions. Children have neither winter clothes nor a good refuge
to insulate them from the cold. They are even surrounded by litter and
garbage and have already contracted viral infections. Most are
malnourished and immunocompromised. Consequently, their bodies can
lose temperature and can contract hypothermia very easily.”

Newborns, he said, are at particular risk: “Most newborn babies are
born with impairments or deformities because mothers have been
subjected to unimaginable trauma, malnutrition, dehydration, and
several diseases. These children will easily be exposed to the cold
and hypothermia and die.”

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Sabreen Saleh and her husband sleep with only a couple of mattresses
and three blankets in a perforated tent with no protection from the
rain. Photo: Abubaker Abed

Sabreen Saleh, 32, has taken shelter in a leaky tent in Deir al-Balah
with her husband and her two children, one of whom is a breastfeeding
infant, after being displaced from Jabalya in northern Gaza. She has
been very concerned about her baby’s health.

“The cold kills us during the night. We can’t bear it at all. We
are here sleeping on the ground with only two mattresses and three
blankets. But they are actually just shreds of fabric. We’ve been
drowning over the past few days since the rain sneaks through our
perforated tent and wets us and our belongings. We’re trembling with
cold all day. My husband collects some wood to make a fire and warm
us. But as we can’t afford to bring wood all the time, he sometimes
resorts to shredding his own clothes or blankets to burn for the fire.
My children and I have only some old clothes. We can’t afford
anything. We mainly depend on the free food distribution center for
our only meal, and we’ve been asking for aid from humanitarian
organizations. However, we’ve only received aid two times since the
war broke out.

“I fear a lot for my baby, especially after the death of several
infants from the cold in Gaza. He wears only summer clothes because
there is no winter clothing, and if available, they are sold at
inflated prices. Since he was born a month ago, I haven’t showered
him except for one time because I am scared of his consequent imminent
death. During the night, his face becomes blue. I, as a result, take
the towel and roll it around his body. My husband and I sometimes put
our own blankets on our children and don’t sleep. What should we do?
We don’t have any solutions. Our knees and bones hurt because of the
freezing temperatures. But we can’t even purchase some medicine for
our pain. We need a rainfly, suitable housing, and good nutrition. My
children lack everything. This is our life drenched in extreme pain
and horror. I just hope the war ends and we can return to what’s
left of our houses.”

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Hossam Al-Nabaheen's family in Deir al-Balah where he and 8 children
take shelter with almost no means to live. Photo: Abubaker Abed

Hossam Al-Nabaheen, a 52-year-old displaced father of eight orphaned
children, has been surviving on hardly a little for months as Israel
bombed his house and displaced him from Al-Buraij camp in central
Gaza. One of his sons has a chronic kidney condition treated with
medications that are now too expensive for them. In his shabby tent in
Deir al-Balah, the bare human necessities are nowhere to be found.

“I have eight children who desperately require everything: food,
water, clothes, and medicine. But I am unable to get anything for them
because prices are skyrocketing, staples are rarely available, and
clothes need huge money to purchase,” he said. “We are shaking
with cold every single day in our tent located in a very open area.
The bitter fact is that we live on the streets where no protection,
warmth, or safety can be seen. It is hellish. All that we have are two
blankets and three mattresses. Our tent has been flooded by the rain
because I can’t provide a tarp. My children are always barefoot and
have only one piece of clothing on their bodies. They always have skin
diseases and severe gastroenteritis because of the glacial weather.
Yet, I can’t provide any medications, food, or good shelter for
them. What else should I tell you? There are simply no words.”

“We gather around a woodfire at night to heat our bodies,” he
continued. “But then, the cold debilitates us at night. As my
children can’t bear the cold, I take my only blanket and cover them
with it. This is my makeshift kitchen where I only have one bottle of
oil. We only eat from the free meal distribution center. We’ve been
calling on all humanitarian organizations, but we haven’t received
any help. I have a massive responsibility and can’t take it under
these stark and horrific conditions. This genocidal war has taken
everything from us, including our homes and souls. I hope someone can
help me navigate this grim, totally unavoidable reality. And we are
praying for an end to this war in the new year.”

As long as Israel’s war and humanitarian blockade continues, more
deaths from the cold are expected. “They need proper shelters,
balanced nutrition, and a healthy environment as well as
medications,” said Abu-Habel. “Nevertheless, this is unfeasible as
all these things are not allowed in. An immediate end to the war will
solve things. But as long as the cold weather hits Gaza, we mustn’t
be surprised that more people, particularly children, will die from
hypothermia in the upcoming weeks.”

_Abubaker Abed is an accidental war correspondent from Deir al-Balah
in Gaza. He was thrown into an active warzone to report on the
genocide. He's a football journalist and commentator._

* Israel-Gaza War
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* refugees
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* freeze
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* infant mortality
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