New York, IRNA - The United Nations has expressed deep concern about the freezing death of babies in Gaza after one more toddler died of hypothermia in the war-weary Strip, bringing to eight the number of such deaths in Gaza due to extreme cold.
According to IRNA, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Monday local time about the dire humanitarian condition in Gaza. “The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) tells us they are deeply concerned by reports that a one-month-old baby in Gaza has died of hypothermia. That is what the Ministry of Health is telling us. This is the eighth child death due to the cold in less than three weeks”
Hypothermia is a medical condition in which a person’s body temperature drops abnormally, usually to below 35 degrees Celsius. It occurs when the body is exposed to cold for a long time and cannot maintain its temperature adequately.
“These deaths were preventable, had the items required to protect these children been accessible to their families,” Dujarric said during the presser.
He added: “OCHA continues to receive daily reports of civilians being killed and injured across Gaza due to the ongoing hostilities, which are also causing widespread destruction and displacement, as you well know”.
Recalling the Israeli shelling of the UN school, he stressed that “civilians and civilian infrastructure, including activists, convoys and humanitarian equipment, must be protected in accordance with international humanitarian law.”
He also touched on continued restrictions by the Israeli authorities on access to northern Gaza, saying that over the past three days, three UN attempts to reach these areas were met with Israeli opposition.
Dujarric noted: Across the Gaza Strip over the weekend, 37 UN-led humanitarian missions were planned. Twelve of these missions were facilitated, but 15 others were denied outright, nine were impeded, and one was cancelled due to logistical and operational issues.
“We reiterate that Israel must facilitate the rapid and widespread flow of aid, fuel and commercial goods into Gaza through multiple entry points to prevent the looting of humanitarian resources,” he said while referring to several incidents of armed looting of aid convoys.
Asked whether the UN had received an explanation from Israel for Sunday’s attack on a World Food Programme (WFP) convoy near a Gaza checkpoint, Dujarric said: WFP strongly condemned an incident that took place when a clearly marked WFP convoy was shot at by Israeli forces near the Wadi Gaza checkpoint, putting staff lives at tremendous risk and leaving the vehicles immobilized.
“We urge all parties to respect international humanitarian law, protect civilians, and allow safe passage of humanitarian aid into and throughout Gaza”, the UN spokesman concluded.
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