THREE Palestinian children have frozen to death amid a critical shortage of essential facilities, it has been reported.
Al Jazeera, reporting from south Gaza Strip city Khan Younis, noted the destruction of residential buildings and how children are living inside wrecks out of necessity without any type of heating, electricity, water and sanitation.
“That is why mobile homes and shelters are highly required by the Palestinian faction in Gaza as part of the ceasefire agreement” said reporter Tareq Abu Azzoum.
“But Israel, until now, has not allowed a sufficient number of mobile shelters and tents to enter the Gaza Strip.”
Families in the area have been using makeshift tents for more than one and a half years, with children and the elderly in particular being left most vulnerable to the cold weather in Gaza.
The temperature in Khan Younis last night dipped as low as 7°C, where locals would have to brave the elements due to living conditions.
The United Nations warned in January that Gazan children are freezing to death. They reported that eight newborns died of hypothermia and 74 children passed away amid harsh winter conditions.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians living in West Bank have been displaced by the continually intensifying military operation.
On Monday February 24 the UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres signalled his ‘grave concern’ over rising violence and calls for annexation of the West Bank by Israeli settlers.
Israel Defence Minister Israel Katz said the army is expanding its military offensive across the occupied West Bank and troops are preparing to remain in some refugee camps “for the next year”.
The Hamas-Israel ceasefire agreement has allowed more than 600,000 Palestinians to return to their original towns and villages. They returned to find nothing but areas that are uninhabitable.
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is wanted for arrest by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
His government is expanding illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and has been accused of committing genocide by international experts including Amnesty International and leading Israeli Holocaust historians.
