A baby girl froze to death in southern Gaza, the head of the enclave's Ministry of Health said Wednesday. The newborn was at least the third baby to die in recent days in the cold.
The girl's father, Mahmoud al-Faseeh, told The Associated Press that he had wrapped her in a blanket to try to keep her warm in the family's tent in the al-Muwasi camp outside Khan Younis.
"It was very cold overnight and as adults we couldn't even take it. We couldn't stay warm," he said. Baby Sila woke up crying three times in the night. In the morning, "she was like wood," he said. They rushed her to a field hospital, but she did not survive.
"[Sila] died from the cold," her mother, Nariman, told CNN on Wednesday. "I was warming her and holding her. But … [we] didn't have extra clothes for me to warm this girl." The overnight low was 9 degrees Celsius, and their tent did not keep the wind out, Mahmood al-Faseeh
Dr. Ahmed Al-Farra, the children's ward director at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, confirmed the baby died of hypothermia, as did two others, both less than 1 month old, in the past two days.
According to The Associated Press, Israel is allowing more aid into Gaza: an average of 130 trucks a day in December, up from about 70 in October and November. Before the war, about 500 trucks entered daily.
Houthi missile attack
The Yemen-based Houthi militant group said Wednesday that it fired a ballistic missile at the Tel Aviv area in central Israel, an attack that prompted air raid sirens to sound but caused no damage.
Israel’s military said it intercepted the missile before it crossed into Israeli territory.
The missile was the second in the span of two days launched by the Houthis and the latest in a campaign they say is in solidarity with the Palestinians amid the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
In addition to launching missiles at Israel, the Houthis have also disrupted the key shipping routes in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden with attacks against ships.
Israeli officials have become more direct in their rhetoric toward the Houthis in recent days, pledging to take action against the Iran-backed group.
Hostage deaths
The presence of Israeli troops inadvertently contributed to the deaths in August of six hostages held in Gaza, according to the results of an investigation by the Israeli military released Tuesday.
The six hostages, including Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, were taken by Hamas militants during the October 7, 2023, raid on Israel. They were killed by Hamas after nearly 330 days in captivity.
The military's report found that "ground activities in the area, although gradual and cautious, had a circumstantial influence on the terrorists' decision" to kill the six hostages.
Their bodies were found 48 to 72 hours later in a tunnel in late August, the report said.
The military was operating in that area of southern Gaza because the likelihood that hostages were there was considered medium to low, the report said.
"The investigation published tonight proves once again that the return of all hostages will only be possible through a deal," the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement on Tuesday.
Hamas militants killed 1,200 people in their 2023 attack on southern Israel and took about 250 others hostage. There are still around 100 hostages being held in Gaza, though at least one-third are believed to be dead.
Israel's counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 45,300 people, according to the Gaza health ministry. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and fighters in its count.
The United States, United Kingdom, European Union and others have designated Hamas as a terror group.
Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
