Winter rains worsen horrors faced by displaced Palestinians in Gaza

In the second year of an Israeli genocide in Gaza, weather has added an extra element of suffering to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians forcibly displaced, often multiple times, while efforts to agree a ceasefire go nowhere.

Jumaa al-Batran, just 20 days old, died of hypothermia, one of six Palestinian infants who have died of exposure and cold during recent days in Gaza, according to doctors – their deaths underlining the severity of the situation before vulnerable families.

International aid agencies say Israeli forces have been hampering aid deliveries, making the humanitarian crisis even worse.

“Since I am an adult, I may take this and endure it, but what did the young one do to deserve this?” Jumaa’s mother, Noura al-Batran said. “He could not endure it, he could not endure the cold or the hunger and this hopelessness.”

Dozens of tents, many already tattered from months of use, have been blown away or flooded by the strong winds and rain, leaving families struggling to repair the damage, patching torn sheets of plastic and piling up sand to hold back the water.

It is another aspect of the humanitarian crisis facing Gaza’s 2.3 million population, caught by the relentless Israeli bombings, which have killed more than 45,500 Palestinians, according to Gaza officials, and turned the enclave into a wasteland of rubble.

The United Nations relief agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, on Sunday, said aid is nowhere near enough and a ceasefire was desperately needed to deliver as famine loomed.

Earlier this month, Israeli and Hamas leaders expressed hopes that talks brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the United States could lead to an agreement to halt the fighting. But optimistic talk of a deal before the end of the year has faded.