A nine-month-old boy died of hypothermia on Thursday in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, according to his father and a doctor who spoke to a news agency. The deaths came after several days of severe weather and flooding that have forced thousands of Palestinians living in tents to move.
The doctor, who saw the child and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Kinan Ahmed Raqiq “died from hypothermia inside his family’s displacement tent.” The father, Ahmed Raqiq, told the agency that his son had died of cold during the night.
Father describes finding his son in the tent
Ahmed Raqiq said he woke to find the boy’s skin had turned blue. He rushed him to Nasser hospital, but staff there found the child had already died.
Also read: Four killed in Gaza as sand mound collapses on tents
Standing outside the hospital with tears drying on his face, he said, “I am in complete shock.” He said he was left holding his son, who was wrapped in a white burial sheet.
Flooding leaves families stranded across Gaza
Heavy rain last week flooded tens of thousands of tents across Gaza. Nearly the entire population has been uprooted at least once during three years of Israeli strikes.
On the day after the flooding, a sandy embankment collapsed onto tents and killed five people, including three children. Since then, hundreds of displaced families have been seen leaving camps in Gaza City and in central and northern areas after rainwater flooded them.
UN agencies warn the cold season has only begun
James Elder, the UN children’s agency UNICEF’s spokesman on Gaza, warned that the flooding was only the start of the cold season. “It’s not yet winter,” Elder said, adding that the territory was weeks away from the coldest months.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that as of November 8, 26,000 households had been affected by storms. It also said around 65 percent of Gaza’s population remains displaced in tents or other temporary shelter.
Board of Peace faults Israel over cold preparations
Israel and Hamas declared a ceasefire on October 10, 2025, but Israel has continued striking the territory. It has vowed to kill anyone involved in the October 7 attack, the deadliest in Israel’s history.
In rare criticism, President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace said this week that Israel, which tightly controls entry into Gaza, had not done enough to prepare for the cold weather. It said Israel urgently needed to allow in more supplies.
