While the world averts its gaze with empty promises of peace, Gaza’s Ministry of Health reports that over the past 48 hours at least six Palestinians have been killed by direct Israeli attacks, adding to 13 more deaths from hypothermia and building collapses caused by winter storms in shelters destroyed by previous bombings. Yes, no sooner are shelters erected than they are bombed, burned, set ablaze with the population inside. Two babies, aged 29 days and two weeks, succumbed to extreme cold in hospitals such as Nasser, where Doctors Without Borders recount how they arrive “frozen, with vital signs on the brink of death,” victims of an Israeli blockade that prevents tents and basic supplies despite the October truce. If before they were killed by hunger, now cold is added as a second silent killer. These tragedies are not accidents: they are extensions of a genocide documented by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, which in recent reports conclude that Israel commits acts prohibited by the Genocide Convention, such as inflicting living conditions intended to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians.

Systematic violations of the ceasefire

Gaza’s Ministry of Health, backed by the UN’s OCHA, records 401 Palestinians killed since the truce, with bombings in Khan Younis and Gaza City that on December 18–19 killed civilians, including four in an airstrike east of Khan Younis. HRW urges an arms embargo on Israel for “crimes against humanity and genocide” in Gaza, highlighting how Israeli forces target reconstruction teams and maintain a siege that violates international humanitarian law. Defense for Children International Palestine reports 2025 as a “devastating year” for Palestinian children: systematic torture, beatings, and the detention of thousands of children, with patterns of violence that verge on the extreme during arrests and interrogations. The UN confirms that Israeli allegations against UNRWA are “unfounded,” demanding medical evacuations for 18,500 patients, including 4,096 children, stranded by Israeli restrictions.

A lethal humanitarian crisis in winter

Storm Byron worsened the inferno: 13 dead in one week from hypothermia and collapses, with 11 buildings collapsed and 2,180 Palestinian families annihilated by two years of bombardment, according to Gaza’s Media Office. OCHA details 4,721 displaced people affected by flooding, with 691 tents damaged and risks of respiratory diseases, hepatitis, and diarrhea due to lack of water and sanitation; thousands live in inadequate tents while Israel blocks laboratory reagents and diagnostic tools under “dual-use classification.” The International Committee of the Red Cross and Egypt attempt to recover the remains of hostages, but rains and the Israeli “yellow line” hinder efforts, while Palestinians pay the price of unexploded ordnance—up to 10 million, causing 400 additional deaths—scattered across Gaza.

Palestinian voice: genocide in figures and testimonies

Since October 2023, the Ministry of Health reports 70,925 Palestinian deaths that could be counted—nearly 71,000 according to Prensa Latina, not to mention the disappeared—with 171,185 injured; women and children represent 60% of recent fatalities, per OHCHR. Amnesty describes “patterns of violence against civilians” that go beyond military objectives, constituting genocidal intent: mass killings, serious bodily harm, and deliberately destructive conditions. Rarely in recent history has such a level of cruelty and dehumanization been observed. Testimonies from Palestinian children before HRW reveal routine beatings, trampling, and verbal harassment during detentions, while the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child condemns “widespread torture.” In Gaza, 20,000 minors have died, and 67 journalists—half in Gaza—have been silenced in 2025, per CPJ.

This chronicle on Gaza is not mere statistics: it is the cry of a besieged people, where the ceasefire is an illusion and winter a lethal weapon. Reports by Amnesty, HRW, and OCHA demand immediate action—lifting the blockade, justice at the ICC, an end to Israeli apartheid—to stop what Palestinians call an ongoing genocide. The world must listen before Gaza freezes into oblivion.