Frozen funds, UN health ops’ lifeline, troubles Gaza

Jerusalem: Palestinian medics say at least six infants have died from hypothermia in the last two weeks in the Gaza Strip, as a UN official warned that the Trump administration’s suspension of funding to the World Health Organisation withheld money for critical operations in the territory.

A fragile ceasefire that took hold last month paused 15 months of war between Israel and the Hamas militant group. But hundreds of thousands of people are still living in squalid tent camps or bombed-out buildings with little shelter from the cold, and temperatures have plunged in recent days.

Dr Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO representative for Occupied Palestinian Territories, said the funds suspension leaves six areas underfunded, including EMT operations, rehabilitation of health facilities, coordination with partner organisations and medical evacuations.

Dr Ahmed al-Farah, head of the paediatric department at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, said that it received the body of a two-month-old girl on Tuesday. He said another two infants were treated for frostbite, with one of them discharged.

Saeed Saleh, of the Patient’s Friends Hospital in Gaza City, said five infants aged one month or younger have died from the cold over the last two weeks. Zaher al-Wahedi, head of the Gaza Health Ministry’s records department, said it has recorded 15 deaths from hypothermia this winter.

The territory on the Mediterranean coast experiences cold and wet winters, with temperatures dropping below 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit) at night.