At least four people were killed in Gaza City just after midnight Tuesday when a storm hit the enclave, triggering two separate collapses that brought walls and debris down onto tents sheltering displaced families.
The storm also damaged or uprooted displacement tents and contributed to building collapses across multiple areas, residents and officials said.
In a statement posted Tuesday on WhatsApp, Gaza’s government media office said seven children have died from severe cold since the start of winter.
It said 24 people have died from cold exposure since the start of the war on Gaza, including 21 children, and that about 7,000 tents were swept away over two days by strong winds.
A paramedic told Al Manassa a woman was killed in central Gaza City when a house wall collapsed onto her family’s tent, and three others were killed when a wall from a damaged community building fell onto another tent.
Those killed in the second incident were an elderly man, a child, and a woman from the Hamouda family, the paramedic said, adding that several others were injured.
“We ran out of the tent and found a big wall had fallen on the family’s tent. They were under the rubble,” said Hassan Al-Khudari, who was staying nearby.
“After contacting the ambulance service, neighbors in the nearby tents were able to pull out the victims and the wounded,” he added.
Al-Khudari said the Hamouda family were displaced from Jabalia refugee camp in the north and had been forced to flee since the early days of the war. He said they had set up a tent inside the community building to shelter under its damaged walls.
Gaza residents are living inside homes at risk of collapse after Israeli occupation forces bombed them during the genocidal war. The danger of staying in such structures has increased with strong winds and heavy rain.
Rain and wind kept Gaza residents from sleeping Monday night, Gaza resident Ibrahim Malaka told Al Manassa. “All night it was rain and wind. Water came in on us, and half the tent flew away, and we kept trying to work on it so it would protect us from the rain,” he said.
During the war, Malaka lost more than 40 relatives, whose bodies remain under the rubble. He said he is now living in a tent with his spouse and their six children next to their home in Zaytoun, southeast of Gaza City.
He said he tried to protect his children from the wind and rain throughout the night, but eventually gave up, and they spent the night in the rain. “What can we do? Every time we close one spot, another spot opens. We stayed under the rain and wind, and here we are trying to fix the tent,” he said.
Malaka called on international institutions to provide assistance. “We’re not asking for something big. We want shelter that respects our humanity and protects our health and our kids’ health. We want to live in dignity,” he said.
Gaza’s government held Israel “fully and directly responsible for these crimes and deadly outcomes, as an extension of policies of slow killing, starvation, and displacement.”
It called on the international community, the United Nations, and humanitarian and rights organizations to take immediate and urgent action to provide safe shelters and to allow provisions for warmth and relief aid to enter without restrictions.
Israel has refused to begin negotiations on the second phase of the ceasefire agreement until Hamas hands over the body of Israeli officer Ran Gvili, which Palestinian resistance groups say they have been unable to locate.
Israeli occupation forces have continued to violate the ceasefire since it took effect on Oct. 10, carrying out near-daily strikes on homes and tents sheltering displaced people.
