As temperatures dropped in Gaza, this family took refuge in a hole 1.5 metres under their tent

Over the last nine months of the war in Gaza, Nora al-Batran was pregnant with twins. The 38-year-old was displaced multiple times with her husband and children as they skirted bombs and gunfire and sought refuge in a tent in the town of Deir al Balah. 

On Dec. 6, al-Batran gave birth to her twin sons, Jumaa and Ali, at the town's Al-Aqsa hospital.

But two weeks later, Jumaa died of hypothermia as the cold weather set in and al-Batran struggled to keep her babies warm beneath the cloth tarps of her tent at night. 

"Because of the cold, my children stopped moving, they stopped nursing," she told CBC freelance videographer Mohamed El Saife. "It's very difficult…. It's very cold." 

Cold weather and heavy rains have pummelled much of the Gaza Strip in recent weeks, leaving many Palestinians living in tents at risk against the elements, with one father digging a hole under his tent to offer refuge for his family. 

Jumaa was among eight babies who died of hypothermia in recent weeks, according to Dr. Ahmed al Farra at the Nasser Medical Complex. 

In the second winter of the war in Gaza, the weather has added an extra element of suffering for hundreds of thousands of people who have been displaced.

Temperatures drop to around 10 C to 15 C at night in Gaza at this time of year.

A report published by UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, in January says babies are dying of hypothermia because of a lack of access to basic supplies that are not making it across the border to civilians in Gaza. 

"Supplies which would protect them have been stuck in the region for months waiting for approval from the Israeli authorities to get into Gaza," it reads. 

Infants are at higher risk of hypothermia because they lose heat faster than adults. Many have had to spend hours wet and cold because of the weather in Gaza, both issues that can lead to hypothermia, according to health professionals.

Sitting in her tent, her son, Ali, in her arms, al-Batran remembers the day she found Jumaa's lifeless body next to her. 

She said the night before, she had wrapped Jumaa in as many blankets as she could find, only leaving his nose exposed so he could breathe, and placed a bottle of hot water in his blankets in an attempt to keep him warm.

"I woke up at 6 a.m. and found my son was blue and frozen. He wasn't breathing," al-Batan said. "I felt guilty that my child died in front of my eyes from the cold and I couldn't do anything for him."