Freezing temperatures are continuing to bite in Gaza, where at least five babies have died from hypothermia this winter.

It comes as the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya was set on fire on Friday and yesterday the Baptist Hospital in Gaza city was shelled.

The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital was arrested in a raid by the Israeli military, supposedly targeting a Hamas command centre.

The Palestinian health ministry said Dr Hussam Abu Safiy was held by Israeli forces on Friday along with dozens of other staff and taken to an interrogation centre.

The IDF has said the sieges are designed to root out terrorists hiding in healthcare facilities, but international journalists are prohibited by Israel from entering Gaza and independently verifying these claims.

World Health Organisation 'appalled'

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it was "appalled" by Friday's raid, which it said put northern Gaza's last major health facility "out of service".

"The systematic dismantling of the health system and a siege for over 80 days... puts the lives of the 75,000 Palestinians remaining in the area at risk," a statement said.

The UN's humanitarian agency says nearly 90% of Gaza's two million population has been displaced since the start of the Israel-Hamas war - close to half of them are children.

Imam Islam Abu Suaied prays over the bodies of two babies before their burial at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Yahia al Batran, the father of the latest baby to die of hypothermia, said he has had to move twice due to Israeli bombing.

"I escaped the Israelis with my family to a school shelter. They bombed the school shelter so we took a bus to a football field to live in a tent," says Yahia.

"My two nephews and three in-laws were killed. In the same month, God gave me twins. I named Juma'a after my brother and his twin, Ali, after my nephew."

On the same day that Juma'a died of hypothermia, his twin brother Ali was admitted to hospital to be treated for sepsis.

Featured image: Ali al-Batran, a 20-day-old infant, lies in the intensive care unit with hypothermia at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)