‘People are dying in so many ways’: Tent fire kills 2 infant girls in Gaza

Habiba was due for her two-month vaccinations on Saturday. Instead, her family mourned her death alongside that of seven-month-old Aseel after a fire tore through the tent where their relatives had gathered in the southern Gaza Strip, Anadolu reports.

The family’s visit in al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis, ended in a desperate attempt to save the two infants when flames broke out Friday afternoon.

Both suffered severe burns and were admitted to intensive care. They died Saturday morning.

Nasser Medical Complex identified them as Habiba Mohammed Zanoun, two months old, and Aseel Abu Suhayban, seven months old.

Sources told Anadolu that the fire started while food was being cooked inside the tent. Severe shortages of cooking gas and basic supplies under Israel’s blockade have forced displaced families to prepare meals over open flames, they said.

– ‘Why is all this happening to us?’

The girls’ grandmother, who did not give her name, told Anadolu that her daughter had come to visit the family at their tent when the fire suddenly broke out.

Habiba was her daughter’s baby, she said. The infant died on the day she was supposed to receive her two-month vaccinations.

Aseel’s mother rushed to rescue her daughter and suffered burns. She, too, was taken to hospital.

The grandmother said neither infant could withstand the severity of her injuries.

“Why is all this happening to us?” she asked. “Every day there are accidents, bombings and fires, and people are dying in so many ways.”

“For three years, we have been living like this, amid displacement, anguish and pain.”

– Cooking without safe alternatives

The blaze was one of three fires reported Friday in displacement tents in central and southern Gaza, according to sources.

With cooking gas scarce, families have resorted to makeshift fires to prepare food. Inside crowded shelters built from flammable materials, an everyday necessity can put lives at risk.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned in June that cooking inside displacement tents was a leading cause of fires.

Blankets, old fabric, cardboard and plastic sheeting used to reinforce shelters allow flames to spread rapidly and make fires harder to control, it said.

Fire is one of several dangers facing families in deteriorating tents that offer little protection from the weather.

OCHA also reported that Israeli authorities denied entry on Aug. 26 and Sept. 2 to a previously approved shipment through the Egyptian corridor containing 36,960 pieces of timber and 660 emergency shelter kits.

The Gaza Government Media Office previously reported that more than 800,000 displaced Palestinians were living in tents unfit for human habitation. It estimated that 162,000 of Gaza’s 270,000 displacement tents needed immediate replacement.

The grandmother, mourning the loss of two grandchildren, appealed to the world to pay attention to Gaza’s displaced families and help end their suffering.