Born at war, dying in the cold: Gaza’s babies struggle to cope with plummeting temperatures

Seela al-Faseeh was only 2 weeks old when her father, Mahmoud al-Faseeh, 31, said he took her from their makeshift tent near Khan Younis to the pediatric emergency ward at Nasser Hospital on Wednesday, shortly after her body turned blue and stiff.

Seela al-Faseeh was only 2 weeks old when her father, Mahmoud al-Faseeh, 31, said he took her from their makeshift tent near Khan Younis to the pediatric emergency ward at Nasser Hospital on Wednesday, shortly after her body turned blue and stiff.

“We woke up to find the girl like wood,” Faseeh told NBC News.

When doctors examined the baby, they found no health problems or congenital issues. Instead, they said, her heart had stopped beating because of the temperature plummeting during the night.

She was born amid the war, Faseeh said, but she died because of the cold.

Ahmed al-Farra, director of the hospital’s pediatric ward, confirmed to NBC News that Seela had died from hypothermia, a medical emergency that occurs when the body’s temperature drops to dangerously low levels. Dying from hypothermia can take hours or days, with babies and children especially vulnerable.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/babies-dying-gaza-cold-hypothermia-rcna185521

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