Gaza: how children are born into two different worlds

The death of 27-day-old Aisha Ayesh Al-Agha did not pass as mere news in the city of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. She may have become another statistic of the harsh winter, but to her parents, she was an unbearable tragedy. They watched their first daughter die, frozen beneath a tent that offered no mercy.

Aisha had not yet learned the meaning of winter, nor even its name. She had not memorised her mother’s face, nor completed her first cycle of life, but the cold arrived faster. It crept into her small chest, settled in her fragile bones, and extinguished a breath still searching for its rhythm.

Shelter in Gaza

Inside a tent that could not be closed, the wind entered as if it owned the place. A worn piece of cloth separated the infant from the open air. Her mother tried to shield her child with her body, her breath, and her heart before her arms. There was no electricity, no fuel, and no proper cover for a newborn born into war, where even birth is a risk.

Aisha did not die because the winter was harsh, but because life here is harsher. The siege has lasted longer than her life. Tents are not made for children’s chests or their dreams. In Gaza, the cold is not a weather condition. It is a silent weapon that kills without sound, leaving mothers counting days: one day, two days, twenty-seven.

This winter has arrived in Gaza amid unprecedented humanitarian conditions. Medical, municipal, and relief sources report that over 1.5 million displaced people are living in tents or temporary shelters. These offer little protection from rain or cold, amid near-total electricity blackouts and severe fuel shortages.

Winter devastation

During the first weeks of winter, at least eight infants died from exposure. Dozens more suffered critical hypothermia, mostly newborns and elderly people. Successive storms flooded hundreds of tents, damaged already ruined homes, and displaced families yet again.

Elsewhere in the world, a newborn’s first days look very different. Babies are welcomed into warm rooms, monitored by doctors, and surrounded by families focused on feeding, sleeping, and first smiles. These early days are defined by care and protection, not survival.

Between these two realities, the humanitarian gap is vast. In Gaza, a newborn’s first days are a struggle against cold and deprivation. Bodies not yet fully formed are forced to endure the unbearable. Aisha Ayesh Al-Agha’s death is not an isolated tragedy. It is part of a growing toll, paid first by children, while Gaza’s winter remains open to a death that has not yet ended.

Featured image via Unicef