Bundled up in baby blankets and wrapped in the warmth of her father’s arms, Sham Al-Shanbari came into the world at a time of relative calm in Gaza, born two weeks ago during the hard-won ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.
The war in Gaza claimed her life all the same.
On Monday night, Sham became one of at least seven children in Gaza to die of cold in recent days, according to local health officials. Her family, along with hundreds of thousands of other civilians, has been forced to live in tents and makeshift shelters after Israeli bombing made their homes unlivable.
"At around midnight, her mother nursed her and put her to sleep," Sham's father, Mohamad Tawfiq Al -Shanbari, told an NBC News' crew Beit in Hanoun in northeast Gaza on Tuesday.
In the morning, "we tried to wake her, but she wouldn't wake up," he said, before watching as his daughter was placed into a tiny shallow grave.
The cold has killed six other children over roughly the past two weeks, according to Dr. Munir Al-Bursh, director-general of the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza, where families whose homes have been destroyed are forced to sleep in tents and other makeshift shelters.
Sila Abdul Qader, less than 2 months old, was the latest to die from the cold weather, Al-Bursh said Wednesday.
Al-Shanbari said his daughter had been "100% fine, playing and smiling like usual" in the hours before she died.
But, he said, "I live in a tent. It's cold. How could the girl survive?"
Night-time temperatures in Gaza over the past week have fallen below 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit), according to meteorological data. Babies are particularly vulnerable to the cold as they are unable to regulate their body temperature in the same way as adults.
More than a year of Israeli bombing and shelling has also shattered the enclave's hospitals, making it difficult, if not impossible, for Palestinians to get basic life-saving medical help. At least 70% of infrastructure in Gaza, including hospitals and schools, and 60% of homes and 65% of roads have been destroyed, the United Nations said this month.
More than 48,300 people have been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to local health officials, since Israel launched its offensive after the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks, in which it said some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage.
Medical Aid for Palestinians, a charity based in the U.K., said its team at the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis had documented the death of at least one 2-month-old baby in recent days. It said the infant had died from the cold, while three other children were also brought to the hospital recently with cold-related injuries.
"All admitted children were previously healthy, with no underlying conditions, but presented with cold injuries and hypothermia," the organization said in a statement sent over WhatsApp. So far this year, at least 15 children have been admitted to Nasser Hospital with cold-related injuries and illness, it added.
The deaths come as fears grow about the fragile ceasefire, with the two sides yet to negotiate the second phase of the deal.
A proposal from President Donald Trump to "take over" the Gaza Strip has also sparked fears in the region. Early Wednesday, Trump shared on his Truth Social platform what appeared to be an AI-generated video showing a hypothetical future Gaza in which he is pictured lying on a sunbed alongside Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while another scene shows a gold statue in Trump's likeness.
In Khan Younis, Najeih Al-Najar worried that her baby boy, Youssef, 2 months old, might not survive the war as he lay on a hospital bed.
"My son suddenly got very cold and turned bluish, and his feet swelled," she told NBC News. "Children are dying. They bring them dead."
Winter has only made Al-Najar's fear harder to shake.
"I see death in my son," she said.
