A Palestinian infant died from hypothermia in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, underscoring the worsening humanitarian crisis as world leaders gathered at a Swiss resort with U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza cease-fire plan high on the agenda.
Three-month-old Shaza Abu Jarad was found dead early Tuesday in her family’s tent in Gaza City’s Daraj neighborhood.
“She was freezing, and she was dead,” her father, Mohamed Abu Jarad, told The Associated Press (AP) by phone after her burial. “She died from the cold.”
Abu Jarad, who worked in Israel before the war, is living with his wife and seven other children in a makeshift tent after their home was destroyed.
The family rushed the baby to Al-Ahli Hospital, where a doctor pronounced her dead from hypothermia, said her uncle, Khalid Abu Jarad.
Gaza’s Health Ministry confirmed the cause of death.
The family is among hundreds of thousands of people sheltering in tent camps and war-damaged buildings across Gaza, which experiences cold, wet winters, with nighttime temperatures dropping below 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit).
As Palestinians in the war-ravaged enclave endure life in displacement camps, Trump hopes to establish a new “Board of Peace” at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The initiative, initially conceived to oversee the Gaza cease-fire, faces questions over its membership and scope.
Israel on Tuesday began demolishing the Jerusalem headquarters of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, pressing ahead with a crackdown on the body, which it has long accused of anti-Israel bias.
Shaza Abu Jarad was the ninth child to die from exposure to severe cold this winter in Gaza, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry, which is staffed by medical professionals.
The United Nations and independent experts consider it the most reliable source of war casualty data. Israel disputes the figures but has not provided its own.
More than 100 children have died since the start of the cease-fire in October, a toll that includes a 27-day-old girl who died from hypothermia over the weekend.
The cease-fire paused two years of Israel's heavy attacks and allowed a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza, mostly food.
But residents say shortages of blankets and warm clothing persist, and there is little wood for fires.
Gaza has had no central electricity since the first days of the war in 2023, and fuel for generators remains scarce.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said recent biting cold and rainfall in Gaza pose “an ultimate threat to survival.”
Trump’s Board of Peace was initially seen as a mechanism focused on ending the Israel-Hamas war.
But invitations sent to dozens of world leaders indicate the body could take on a broader mandate covering other global crises, potentially rivaling the U.N. Security Council.
Trump said the body would “embark on a bold new approach to resolving global conflict,” signaling it may not confine its work to Gaza.
Asked during a White House press briefing Tuesday whether the Board of Peace should replace the United Nations, Trump replied: “It might. The U.N. just hasn’t been very helpful. I’m a big fan of the potential, but it has never lived up to its potential.”
He added, “I believe you’ve got to let the U.N. continue, because the potential is so great.”
The panel was part of Trump’s 20-point cease-fire plan that halted the war in Gaza in October. Several countries, including Russia, said they received invitations and were studying the proposal. France said it does not plan to join the board “at this stage.”
