Winter Storms Take Five Victims in the Gaza Strip Amidst Dire Conditions in Temporary Shelters.
Powerful cold-season gusts caused walls to collapse onto fragile tents sheltering Palestinians displaced by war in Gaza, killing at least four people. This tragedy underscores the dangerous living conditions that continue after more than 24 months of devastating bombardment and critical lack of aid.
Ceasefire Offers No Respite from Severe Weather
Although a truce has been in effect since October, humanitarian organizations state that residents do not have the sufficient housing necessary to withstand recurring winter storms.
Medical staff at Shifa hospital, which received the bodies, said on Tuesday that the deceased were two women, a girl, and a man.
Separately, the Gaza health ministry announced on the same day that a one-year-old boy succumbed of extreme cold overnight.
"The world has enabled us to experience death in every possible way," said a family member after the funeral. "While it is correct the bombing may have temporarily stopped, but we have witnessed every conceivable cause of death in the world in the Gaza Strip."
Family Crushed in Tent Collapse
According to the medical center, 3 members of a one family — elderly Mohamed Hamouda, his teenage relative, and his daughter-in-law — were killed when an 26-foot tall wall collapsed onto their tent in a area near the sea of the city. No fewer than 5 additional people were hurt in the event.
Family members on Tuesday started removing the debris that had buried their loved ones and reconstructing the tent shelters for survivors.
Aid Distribution and Ongoing Crisis
The UN and its aid organization allies were handing out shelter kits, tarps, warm covers and clothing as well as food and sanitation items throughout Gaza, stated the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs.
Most of Palestinians reside in makeshift tents since their homes were turned into ruins during the hostilities. Aid groups say an insufficient amount of shelter materials are entering Gaza under the truce.
Fatality Numbers Since the Truce
The Gaza health ministry, which is part of the administration, says over 440 people have been killed by Israeli fire and their remains brought to hospitals after the ceasefire went into effect. The authority keeps comprehensive fatality records that are considered largely accurate by international bodies and independent experts.
A spokesperson for UNICEF, spokesperson for the UN children's fund, stated on Tuesday that no fewer than 100 children under the age of 18 – sixty boys and forty girls – had been killed since the ceasefire started due to military operations, including unmanned aerial vehicle attacks, airstrikes, tank shelling and employment of bullets. Those figures, he said, represented incidents where enough details had been compiled to justify documentation, but the total toll is believed to be higher. He added that hundreds of minors had been injured.
"While 'bombings and gunfire have slowed' during the ceasefire, they have not ceased," the spokesperson told reporters at a UN briefing in Geneva by video link from Gaza City. "Therefore what the world now calls calm would be considered a crisis in any other place," he said.
Third Cold Season of Hardship
Gaza’s population of more than 2 million individuals has been fighting to keep the cold weather and storms at bay while facing shortages of humanitarian aid and a absence of more substantial transitional shelter, which is badly needed throughout the colder season. This marks the third winter after the conflict involving the state and Hamas began on a date in late 2023, when fighters stormed into southern Israel and murdered around twelve hundred individuals and abducted two hundred and fifty-one more into Gaza.
The local health authority reports more than 71,400 Palestinians have been fatally injured in Israel’s military campaign.