At night, as temperatures drop inside their makeshift shelter in Gaza City, Amira Saad struggles to keep her four-month-old baby, Mohammed, warm.
asserted
Saad → drop → baby
The baby mostly only has thin summer clothes.
asserted
baby → have → clothes
Unable to afford winter clothing, 27-year-old Amira has borrowed a warm garment from a neighbour, but remains worried about the cold during the night.
asserted
Amira → afford → night
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asserted
Israel → kill → healthcare
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She lives with 18 family members, including nine children, under a tarp offering little protection from the elements.
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She → kill → elements
Finding enough warm clothes and blankets for everyone has become increasingly difficult.
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Finding → find → everyone
The family was displaced from Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood earlier in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, and now lives in a makeshift camp west of the city.
asserted
family → displace → city
Recent heavy rain has flooded their shelter, soaking mattresses, pillows, and blankets.
“We were flooded while we were sleeping.
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we → flood → mattresses
The water came inside and soaked our blankets, mattresses and pillows.
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water → come → blankets
Everything was wet,” Amira says.
asserted
Amira → say → ?
The children mostly have old, torn summer clothes.
asserted
children → have → clothes
Amira’s mother-in-law, 60-year-old Basima Saad, is also worried about her own 23-year-old daughter, who has a disability, and needs warm clothes and medication.
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who → have → clothes
“Her hands become as cold as ice.
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hands → become → ice
I keep her beside me in bed to warm her, just as I would a small child,” Basima says.
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Basima → keep → her
“I dress her before I dress myself.
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I → dress → myself
I have to make sure she is warm first.”
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she → have → ?
With no regular income, the family relies on community kitchens for food.
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family → rely → food
“My husband does not have a job.
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husband → have → job
Two days ago, he went out to work breaking up rubble, but he broke his hand.
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he → go → hand
The situation is very bad, and the cold is extremely severe,” Amira says.
asserted
Amira → say → ?
Families struggle to keep children warm
The danger to the Palestinians living in these conditions, and particularly the very young, is not hypothetical.
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danger → struggle → conditions
On Thursday, a nine-month-old baby, Kinan Ahmed Raqiq, died of hypothermia.
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baby → die → hypothermia
His father told AFP that he woke up in his tent to find that his son’s skin had turned blue.
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skin → tell → tent
Tragedies like that make Amal al-Maydana, a 46-year-old other of seven, fearful.
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Maydana → make → seven
She’s raising her children alone – her husband Hamza was killed by an Israeli quadcopter in January 2025, and her eldest son Haitham was killed by a sniper in November of the same year, age 25 at the time.
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son → raise → time
She is originally from Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood and has been displaced six times during the war, fleeing Israeli attacks and losing the family’s home, land, and car.
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She → displace → home
Now living in a tent, Amal struggles to provide for her children.
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Amal → live → children
Her younger daughters, Rimas and Malak, are still wearing summer clothes despite the arrival of winter.
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daughters → wear → winter
“Everything is expensive… children’s clothes, shoes, everything,” she says.
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she → say → clothes
Amal tries to make do with what is available, but it is not enough to meet her daughters’ needs.
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it → try → needs
Rain also seeps through the damaged tarpaulins covering the family’s tent.
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Rain → seep → tent
With no heating equipment, they rely on blankets to keep warm.
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they → rely → blankets
“We have no means of heating ourselves; we just cover the children with blankets,” she says.
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she → have → blankets
Amal fears another storm will bring more rain and cold.
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storm → fear → rain
“We just pray that God makes this winter easier for the people living in tents,” she says.
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she → pray → tents
Aid falls short as winter risks grow
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says 94 percent of Gaza’s population urgently needs shelter assistance.
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percent → fall → assistance
Some 65 percent of households live in tents or makeshift shelters, while 650,000 children need winter aid, including warm clothing and blankets.
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children → live → clothing
By September, aid agencies had secured enough winter clothing for just 9,000 households and bedding for 50,000 – far short of what was needed.
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what → secure → 50,000
OCHA said funding shortages were further hampering preparations for winter.
asserted
shortages → say → winter
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned that winter conditions put children in Gaza at increased risk of hypothermia and respiratory infections – at least 11 children died from hypothermia last winter, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
uncertain
children → warn → Health
…and 27 more, not listed.
The Aporia
