Another baby ‘freezes to death’ in Gaza as Israeli raid on hospital kills 7

A Palestinian baby in the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip has "frozen to death" as an Israeli airstrike targeting a hospital left at least seven people dead.

Gaza’s civil defense agency said on Sunday the Israeli forces targeted Al-Wafaa Hospital in central Gaza City, killing at least seven Palestinian people.

“Seven martyrs and several injured people, including critical cases, have been recovered following the Israeli strike on the upper floor of Al-Wafaa Hospital in central Gaza City,” the civil defense agency said in its statement.

The Al-Wafaa Hospital was said to be partially operational due to Israeli attacks. “The Al-Wafaa Hospital is partially operational, providing care to patients with physical disabilities,” said Munir al-Barsh, Director General of the Health Ministry in Gaza.

“The hospital had been rehabilitated and was getting ready to receive patients. Had it not been targeted by Israeli shelling today, it would have been ready to fully reopen in the next few days,” the doctor said.

In a statement later in the day, Hamas condemned the Israeli raids on hospitals as war crimes. 

"The Zionist airstrike on Al-Wafaa Hospital and artillery shelling on Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City are war crimes," the Palestinian resistance movement said.
 
"The international community must take action to send UN observers and impose protection for hospitals," it added. 

Hamas also condemned what it called the international silence regarding these unprecedented crimes that have been going on for 15 months, including genocide, the systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure - particularly hospitals - and the deliberate targeting of doctors and medical personnel.  

The Israeli strike on Al-Wafaa Hospital came a day after the military ended a raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, an assault the World Health Organization reported left the facility empty of patients and staff.

The Israelis also detained the hospital’s chief, Hossam Abu Safiyeh, saying he was suspected of being a militant.

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Meanwhile, a Palestinian baby has died from "severe cold" in the Gaza Strip as the region ravaged by the Israeli war grapples with winter weather.

The Israeli regime has imposed a stifling blockade on Gaza, cutting food, water, and power, especially fuel, depriving the 2.3 million people in the Palestinian territory of their basic survival needs.

The 20-day-old baby died from hypothermia on Sunday due to severe cold and a lack of heating in refugee tents in the central Gaza Strip, Gaza's Health Ministry announced in a statement.

Jumaa al-Batran, “passed away due to the intense cold” in Deir al-Balah city in central Gaza, the ministry explained in the statement.

“His twin brother remains in critical care in the neonatal intensive care unit at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza,” the statement added.

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Cold weather in the past week has caused the death of five infants in Gaza, according to local health authorities.

At least two more infants have died of what appears to be fear-related heart failure triggered by Israeli bombing attacks.

Since last October, the Israeli forces have been carrying out a genocidal war against the defenseless Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip

Gaza's Health Ministry said on Sunday that the death toll of the Palestinians killed in the genocide had risen to 45,514, with more than 108,100 others injured since Oct. 7, 2023.

Most of the victims have been women and children.

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