Two months later, 28-year-old Esraa and her family are living in one of the hundreds of makeshift tents in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza with no means of protecting her newborn from the harsh winter — cold temperatures combined with rains. “When it first started raining here, I hadn’t given birth yet. Me and my husband were trying to find shelter from the rain, as the water kept seeping through here and there in the tent,” Esraa said, sitting with her daughter in her lap, her skin pale and yellow. “We’ve been through rough days. We have never seen something like this before.”
Being unhoused in rough weather conditions and without warm clothing and blankets, the couple are struggling to keep their newborn daughter warm inside their tent. They cannot take her outside either, close to the fires that people are burning for warmth as the smoke gives her breathing difficulties.
“The other day, she kept coughing [from wood smoke] until she turned blue. We were terrified she could have died,” Esraa explained, her voice shaking. “I am worried the most about my daughter. She hasn’t even gotten vaccinated yet.”
As Israel’s assault on Gaza enters its 12th week, Al Jazeera spoke to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip about the challenges brought on by the arrival of winter for the nearly two million people internally displaced in the enclave.