Israel continues to block essential goods such as mobile homes as the Palestinian enclave is hit by harsh weather.
Published on January 10, 2026
A seven-day-old baby has died of extreme cold in the Gaza Strip as the Israeli blockade of essential goods worsens the situation. humanitarian crisis In the Palestinian enclave.
Medical sources told Al Jazeera on Saturday that Mahmoud al-Akra died in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza amid rapidly dropping temperatures.
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Palestinians living in makeshift tents have little protection from this Strong wind and rainBecause most shelters are made of thin canvas and plastic sheeting.
Israel continues to limit the number of tents and durable shelters entering Gaza in violation of the ceasefire it agreed with Hamas in October. It also blocked other critical needs, such as mobile homes, as well as tools and materials to repair damaged tents.
Nighttime temperatures in Gaza have been dropping as low as nine degrees Celsius (48 degrees Fahrenheit) in recent days.
In a statement, Gaza’s civil defense said Friday that “every low-pressure system turns into a humanitarian disaster in light of the restriction of access to construction materials and the disruption of reconstruction.”
The organization warned of a “disaster” as the “low-pressure system caused severe damage to temporary shelters and completely destroyed thousands of tents”.
Civil Defense urged citizens to secure their tents to prevent them from blowing away, as access to mobile homes is prohibited.
“What is happening is not a climate crisis, but a direct result of restricting access to construction materials and disrupting reconstruction, as people live in torn tents and cracked houses without safety or dignity,” said civil defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal.
He also said that the Palestinians were forced to set up tents on the beach because of the lack of available space in the cities due to the massive destruction by Israel.
Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Gaza City, says many of the tents she visited have been destroyed.
“There is no way to fix these tents, because the families don’t have the materials to do so,” she said, adding that people whose tents were destroyed have to find somewhere else to live and are forced to be displaced again and again.
The weather authority in Gaza has warned that strong winds will continue and temperatures are expected to drop further in the enclave.
In a statement to the AFP news agency last week, Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network in Gaza, said about 1.5 million of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents had lost their homes in the war.
Of the more than 300,000 tents requested to shelter displaced people, “we have received only 60,000,” Shawa said, pointing to Israeli restrictions on humanitarian aid distribution.
In a separate development, an Israeli quadcopter A Palestinian was killed The man was transferred to a hospital in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, medical sources told Al Jazeera on Saturday.
According to the United Nations, Israel has destroyed or damaged nearly 80 percent of buildings in Gaza during its two-year genocidal war.