Two infant girls died from severe burns on Saturday after a fire swept through a displacement tent in al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis, on Friday afternoon.
Hospital officials at the Nasser Medical Complex identified the victims as two-month-old Habiba Mohammed Zanoun and seven-month-old Aseel Abu Suhayban. Both infants had been admitted to the intensive care unit after suffering critical burns.
The fire started while food was being cooked inside the tent. Severe shortages of cooking gas and basic supplies under the Israeli blockade have forced displaced families to prepare meals over open flames.
The grandmother of the infants explained that her daughter had come to visit the family when the flames suddenly erupted. Habiba was her daughter’s baby and died on the exact day she was scheduled to receive her two-month vaccinations.
Aseel’s mother sustained burns while rushing into the blaze to rescue her child and was taken to hospital for treatment. Neither of the infants survived their injuries.
"Why is all this happening to us?" the grandmother asked. "Every day there are accidents, bombings and fires, and people are dying in so many ways." She added that families have endured displacement, anguish and pain for a prolonged period.
The incident was one of three separate fires reported on Friday in displacement tents across central and southern Gaza. The scarcity of cooking gas has driven families to rely on makeshift fires inside crowded shelters constructed from flammable materials.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned in June that cooking inside displacement tents is a primary cause of fires. Blankets, old fabric, cardboard and plastic sheeting used to reinforce shelters allow flames to spread rapidly.
According to OCHA, Israeli authorities denied entry on August 26 and September 2 to an approved shipment coming through the Egyptian corridor. The consignment contained 36,960 pieces of timber and 660 emergency shelter kits.
The Gaza Government Media Office previously stated that more than 800,000 displaced Palestinians reside in tents deemed unfit for human habitation. An estimated 162,000 out of 270,000 displacement tents require immediate replacement.
The grieving grandmother appealed to the international community to pay attention to the plight of Gaza’s displaced population and help bring an end to their suffering.
