Families in Gaza are struggling to keep children warm as winter approaches, facing flooded shelters, high prices and severe shortages of winter clothing and blankets.
In Gaza City's makeshift camps, displaced families live in tents and under tarps offering minimal protection. Amira Saad, 27, shelters 18 family members including nine children under a single tarp. Her four-month-old son Mohammed has only thin summer clothes. Heavy rain has flooded their shelter, soaking mattresses and blankets. She says her husband broke his hand breaking up rubble two days ago and the family has no regular income.
Basima Saad, 60, cares for her disabled 23-year-old daughter whose hands "become as cold as ice." She keeps her daughter beside her in bed to warm her.
On Thursday, a nine-month-old baby, Kinan Ahmed Raqiq, died of hypothermia. His father told AFP he woke to find his son's skin had turned blue.
Amal al-Maydana, 46, raises seven children alone after her husband was killed by an Israeli quadcopter in January 2025 and her eldest son was killed by a sniper in November that year at age 25. She has been displaced six times and now lives in a tent. Her younger daughters still wear summer clothes. She said "everything is expensive" including children's clothes and shoes.
Winter clothing prices in Gaza remain high. Mohammed Abu Shanar, a 25-year-old shop owner in Gaza City's Rimal market, sells four to six winter tracksuits daily but says customers often leave without buying. He attributes prices of 40 to 50 shekels (about $12.60 to $15.70) to shortages of goods entering Gaza due to Israeli restrictions and high wholesale costs. He has invested over 20,000 shekels in winter stock.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says 94 percent of Gaza's population urgently needs shelter assistance. Some 650,000 children need winter aid. By September, aid agencies had secured winter clothing for just 9,000 households and bedding for 50,000. OCHA cited funding shortages hampering winter preparations.
UNICEF warned that winter puts children at increased risk of hypothermia and respiratory infections. At least 11 children died from hypothermia last winter, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Flooding from recent rains has affected more than 106,000 people, with 950,000 displaced Palestinians living in flood-prone areas.