Winter Storms Claim 5 Lives in the Gaza Strip Amid Desperate Living Situations in Temporary Camps.
Strong winter gusts caused walls to collapse onto fragile shelters sheltering Palestinians uprooted by conflict in Gaza, killing no fewer than 4 people. This tragedy highlights the dangerous situation that continue after over two years of intense bombardment and severe shortages of humanitarian assistance.
Truce Offers Little Relief from Harsh Elements
While a truce has been in effect from October, humanitarian organizations state that Palestinians broadly lack the sufficient shelter necessary to survive frequent winter storms.
Medical staff at Shifa hospital, which took in the victims, reported on Tuesday that the deceased include two women, a girl, and a male adult.
In a separate incident, the local health authority stated on Tuesday that a one-year-old boy died of extreme cold during the night.
"International actors has enabled us to witness death in every possible way," stated a family member after the funeral. "It’s true the shelling may have paused for now, but we have witnessed all imaginable reasons of death in the world in the Gaza Strip."
Family Crushed in Tent Collapse
As per the medical center, 3 members of a single family — elderly Mohamed Hamouda, his 15-year-old granddaughter, and his son's wife — were killed when an eight-metre high wall fell on top of their tent in a area near the sea of the city. At least 5 additional people were injured in the incident.
Their relatives on Tuesday began clearing the rubble that had buried their loved ones and rebuilding the temporary homes for those who remained.
Aid Distribution and Continuing Crisis
United Nations agencies and its humanitarian partners were distributing shelter kits, plastic sheeting, blankets and clothing as well as food and hygiene supplies across Gaza, stated the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs.
Most of the population reside in makeshift tents since their houses were turned into rubble during the hostilities. Humanitarian organizations say an insufficient amount of building supplies are reaching Gaza under the ceasefire.
Fatality Figures After the Ceasefire
Local health authorities, which is part of the Hamas-run government, reports over 440 people have been killed by gunfire and their bodies brought to hospitals after the truce began. The ministry maintains detailed fatality data that are considered largely accurate by international bodies and outside analysts.
A spokesperson for UNICEF, spokesperson for the UN children's fund, stated on that day that at least 100 children under the age of 18 – 60 boys and forty females – had been killed since the ceasefire began because of military operations, such as unmanned aerial vehicle attacks, air raids, artillery fire and employment of bullets. These numbers, he explained, represented cases where enough information had been compiled to justify documentation, but the overall count is believed to be greater. He noted that hundreds of minors had been wounded.
"Although 'explosions and gunfire have slowed' during the truce, they have not stopped," Elder informed reporters at a press conference in the Swiss city by video from the Strip. "Therefore what the world now calls calm would be considered a crisis anywhere else," he concluded.
Another Cold Season of Struggle
Gaza’s population of more than two million people has been fighting to keep the freezing temperatures and bad weather at bay while facing lack of assistance and a absence of sturdier transitional shelter, which is badly needed during the winter months. It’s the third winter since the war involving Israel and the group began on a date in late 2023, when militants attacked southern Israel and murdered approximately twelve hundred people and took hostage two hundred and fifty-one others into Gaza.
Gaza’s health ministry says over 71,400 Palestinians have been fatally injured in Israel’s retaliatory offensive.