UNITED NATIONS, Dec 27 (APP): UNICEF, the UN agency for children, released a statement Friday decrying the recent deaths of Gazan children, particularly those who have perished because of cold and lack of adequate shelter.
“Cold injuries, such as frostbite and hypothermia, pose grave risks to young children in tents and other makeshift shelters that are ill-equipped for freezing weather,” said UNICEF regional director for the Middle East and North Africa Edouard Beigbeder.
” For newborns, infants, and medically vulnerable children, the danger is even more acute,” he added.
In Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people displaced from their homes are sheltering in tents, the temperatures are expected to drop further in the coming days.
Citing Palestinian authorities, Beigbeder said in his statement that four newborns and infants died in recent days from hypothermia.
“These preventable deaths lay bare the desperate and deteriorating conditions facing families and children across Gaza,” he said.
“With temperatures expected to drop further in the coming days, it is tragically foreseeable that more children’s lives will be lost to the inhumane conditions they are enduring”.
The senior official underlined the fact that, beyond the constant threat of attacks, many in Gaza are living without nutrition, or healthcare. Their makeshift shelters, he said, offer no protection from the freezing weather.
Meanwhile, ongoing hostilities continue to claim Palestinian lives across the Gaza Strip, including near health facilities.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) raised alarm over such attacks, which have also killed health and aid workers.
“An airstrike near Kamal Adwan Hospital in North Gaza governorate last night reportedly killed dozens of people, including health workers. In Kamal Adwan hospital today, staff, patients and their companions were forced out of the facility,” the Office said in an update.
“We are alarmed by ongoing attacks across the Strip that have left scores of Palestinians dead. Arrests and significant damage to the hospital have been reported,” it added.
UNICEF and other UN agencies have frequently reported that, far too often, aid convoys are not being given permission to enter the Gaza Strip and deliver supplies to those in need.
Beigbeder noted that, in November, an average of 65 truckloads of assistance entered the enclave daily, far too little to adequately address the urgent needs of children, women and other civilians.
He called for all access crossings to be opened, as did the World Food Programme (WFP), the UN emergency food relief agency in a social media post on Friday.
WFP declared that it has only been able to bring in about a third of the food needed to support people in Gaza, and that “hunger is everywhere”.
Meanwhile, the UN Human Rights Office condemned the killing of five journalists by Israeli forces on Thursday.
In a social media post published on Friday, the Office noted that the journalists were unarmed, and clearly identified as members of the press, when their van was hit by an airstrike in the vicinity of the Al Awda hospital in Gaza.
The Israeli military claim that the journalists were affiliated with Palestinian armed groups does not remove their protection as civilians, declared the Office, reiterating that urgent measures are needed to protect all civilians, including journalists, in Gaza.
The Office is calling for a thorough and impartial investigation into the killings.
Meanwhile in the West Bank, OCHA reported that as of Thursday Israeli military operations have killed 20 Palestinians over a 10-day period, including 12 deaths from airstrikes.
In Tulkarm refugee camp, a military operation caused significant infrastructure damage, with OCHA raising concerns over the repeated use of lethal, war-like tactics exceeding law enforcement standards.
OCHA also reported that 2024 marked the highest displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank since records began nearly two decades ago.
As of Tuesday, 4,706 Palestinians, including 1,949 children, have been displaced, largely due to Israeli military operations, demolitions, settler violence and access restrictions.
Some 1,209 structures were demolished or forced to be demolished this year, citing lack of permits, which are nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain.