Gaza baby dies of hypothermia after storms flood tents

A nine-month-old baby died of hypothermia in the Gaza Strip on Thursday after days of harsh weather and flooding displaced thousands of Palestinians living in tents, a doctor and Gaza's civil defence agency said.

The doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity and said he saw the child, identified him as Kinan Ahmed Raqiq and said he died inside his family's displacement tent in Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza.

The baby's father, Ahmed Raqiq, told AFP that Kinan died of cold during the night. He said he found the child's skin had turned blue and rushed him to Nasser hospital, but the baby was already dead.

Heavy rain last week flooded tens of thousands of tents in Gaza. Five people, including three children, died the day after the flooding when a sandy embankment collapsed onto their tents.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that as of November 8, storms had affected 26,000 households. It said about 65 percent of Gaza's population is still living displaced in tents or other temporary shelters.

James Elder, UNICEF's spokesman on Gaza, warned that the cold season had only begun. He said Gaza was still weeks from winter but was already facing unusual rain and cold.

Israel and Hamas declared a ceasefire on October 10, 2025, but Israel has continued strikes in the territory. President Donald Trump's Board of Peace said this week that Israel had not done enough before the cold weather and needed urgently to allow in more supplies.

Caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had allowed in supplies including 91,000 tents and said Hamas was responsible for suffering in Gaza.