‘Her hands are as cold as ice’: Gaza families struggle to keep warm

Detailed summary

Flooded tents and high prices leave Gaza families struggling to keep children warm as winter approaches.

Gaza City, Gaza Strip – At night, as temperatures drop inside their makeshift shelter in Gaza City, Amira Saad struggles to keep her four-month-old baby, Mohammed, warm.

The baby mostly only has thin summer clothes. Unable to afford winter clothing, 27-year-old Amira has borrowed a warm garment from a neighbour, but remains worried about the cold during the night.

She lives with 18 family members, including nine children, under a tarp offering little protection from the elements. Finding enough warm clothes and blankets for everyone has become increasingly difficult.

The family was displaced from Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood earlier in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, and now lives in a makeshift camp west of the city.

Recent heavy rain has flooded their shelter, soaking mattresses, pillows, and blankets.

“We were flooded while we were sleeping. The water came inside and soaked our blankets, mattresses and pillows. Everything was wet,” Amira says.

The children mostly have old, torn summer clothes. Amira’s mother-in-law, 60-year-old Basima Saad, is also worried about her own 23-year-old daughter, who has a disability, and needs warm clothes and medication.

“Her hands become as cold as ice. I keep her beside me in bed to warm her, just as I would a small child,” Basima says. “I dress her before I dress myself. I have to make sure she is warm first.”

With no regular income, the family relies on community kitchens for food. Spare money for winter clothes and blankets simply is not available.

Opening of the article, excerpted from Al Jazeera. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.