A 27-day-old baby girl died in Gaza on Saturday due to severe cold, highlighting the worsening humanitarian crisis facing newborns and mothers during the ongoing winter. The death brings the number of children who have succumbed to hypothermia in the region this winter to eight, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Newborn dies as temperatures plunge
Medical sources confirmed that the infant, Aisha Ayesh al-Agha, was brought to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, but doctors were unable to save her as she had already died from exposure to freezing temperatures. No further details were released about her condition prior to arrival at the hospital.
Healthcare system under collapse
The tragedy comes amid growing evidence that the war has severely damaged maternal and neonatal healthcare in Gaza. Reports by Physicians for Human Rights, in collaboration with the Global Human Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, document alarming figures between January and June 2025. These include 2,600 miscarriages, 220 pregnancy-related deaths, 1,460 premature births and more than 2,500 infants requiring neonatal intensive care.
Fuel shortages, blocked medical supplies, mass displacement and repeated bombardment have forced thousands of families into overcrowded tent camps, where protection from winter cold is minimal.
Mothers face impossible choices
With hospitals overwhelmed or non-functional, many mothers are forced to compromise their own health to meet their children’s basic needs. In the first months of 2025, Gaza recorded around 17,000 births — a 41 per cent drop compared to the same period in 2022 — underscoring the scale of disruption to family life.
Children continue to die despite ceasefire
A spokesperson for UNICEF, James Elder, said more than 100 children have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire came into force in October. While airstrikes have slowed, they have not stopped, and winter storms have added to the danger.
Strong winds recently caused walls to collapse onto makeshift tents, killing at least four displaced Palestinians. The health ministry also reported that another one-year-old child died of hypothermia overnight earlier this week.
Since the ceasefire, at least 464 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 1,280 injured in Israeli attacks, according to official figures, as life in Gaza remains precarious for its most vulnerable.