Gaza: 53 nations and groups press Israel on winter aid as first cold-related death of the season is reported

More than 50 countries and international organisations have urged Israel to allow more winter supplies into Gaza, as local health authorities reported the first death from cold this season and the World Health Organization warned that conditions are likely to worsen.

The joint call, led by Britain, Qatar and Jordan, was announced at the United Nations on Thursday by Britain's UN ambassador Sarah MacIntosh. Addressed to the new Israeli government expected to take office in the coming weeks after elections, it asks Israel to lift limits on shelter materials, fuel and medical supplies, keep humanitarian corridors through Egypt and Jordan open, and approve more "dual-use" items needed for water, sanitation and health. The signatories also asked for medical referrals to hospitals in East Jerusalem and the West Bank to be restored and for journalists and senior delegations to be allowed into Gaza.

MacIntosh said too many people in Gaza were still without adequate shelter as winter set in, warning of risks from hypothermia and disease.

Israel points to aid deliveries

On Friday, the Israeli military said more than 93,000 tents and over 8,600 truckloads of winter supplies had entered Gaza, along with sewage vacuum trucks and medical equipment, and that it was coordinating repairs to water and drainage networks. Israeli officials have said criticism of the aid agency COGAT distracts from Hamas's responsibility, and Israel has kept restrictions on items it says Hamas could use for military purposes.

Health warnings

Gaza's Health Ministry said on Friday that a nine-month-old boy was declared dead on arrival at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis on Thursday, and that a forensic examination found severe hypothermia was the cause. It described this as the first cold-related death of the winter.

WHO representative Reinhilde Van De Weerdt told reporters in Geneva that acute respiratory infections were rising and that the "worst really is yet to come". She said cases were about 33,000 higher than a year earlier.

UN figures cited by several outlets say about 1.4 million people, roughly 65 per cent of Gaza's population, are living in tents or makeshift shelters. A rainstorm on 7 November flooded tens of thousands of tents, prompting Gaza's civil defence to declare a maximum emergency.

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has been in place since October 2025, backed by a UN Security Council resolution that endorsed a US-led peace plan and set minimum aid levels which the signatories say have not been met.