DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip >> A fourth infant has died of hypothermia in the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by nearly 15 months of war huddle in tents along the rainy, windswept coast as winter arrives.

Jomaa al-Batran, 20 days old, was found with his head as “cold as ice” early Sunday, his father, Yehia, said. The baby’s twin brother, Ali, was moved to intensive care at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

Their father said they were born one month premature and spent just a day in the nursery at the hospital, which like other Gaza health centers is overwhelmed and only partially functioning.

He said medics told their mother to keep the newborns warm, but it was impossible because they live in a tent and temperatures regularly drop below 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit) at night. “We are eight people, and we only have four blankets,” al-Batran said as he cradled his son’s pale body. He described drops of dew seeping through the tent overnight. “Look at his color because (of) the cold. Do you see how frozen he is?”

Children, some of them barefoot, stood outdoors and watched him mourn. The shrouded infant was laid at the feet of an imam for prayers. Then the imam took off his ankle-length coat and wrapped it around the father.

“Feel warm, my brother,” he said.

At least three other babies have died from the cold in recent weeks, according to local health officials.

Israeli report details abuse of hostages held in Gaza

The Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas militants that sparked the war killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250, including women, children and older adults. Around 100 are still inside Gaza, at least a third believed to be dead.

Israel’s Health Ministry released a report late Saturday detailing what it called widespread physical, psychological and sexual abuse, based on findings of doctors who treated some of the over 100 hostages released during a ceasefire last year. It said the captives — including children — had been subjected to severe abuse such as “beatings, isolation, deprivation of food and water, branding, hair-pulling and sexual assault.”

The report said one hostage described being sexually assaulted at gunpoint by a Hamas militant, and “on several occasions, captors forced women of all ages to undress while others, including the captors, watched.”

Former hostage Aviva Siegel told the AP that “people like to keep it quiet and say it didn’t happen. It happened.” She said she had watched others being threatened with a gun and beaten and that she had been physically assaulted.

The findings, to be sent to the United Nations, could increase pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire and hostage release with Hamas. Families of hostages and supporters have held mass demonstrations for months, and diplomats have reported progress in the indirect talks.

Palestinian woman is killed at home in the West Bank

A Palestinian woman was shot and killed in her home in the volatile West Bank town of Jenin, where the Palestinian Authority this month launched a rare campaign against militants.

The family of Shatha al-Sabbagh, a 22-year-old journalism student, said she was killed by a sniper with the Palestinian security forces late Saturday while she was with her mother and two children. They said there had been no militants in the area.

A Palestinian security forces statement said she was shot by “outlaws” — the term it uses for local militants battling Israeli forces. The security forces condemned the shooting and vowed to investigate.