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Gaza Winter Crisis: Rising death Toll as Storms Worsen Humanitarian Catastrophe
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A surge in fatalities linked to the brutal winter weather is compounding the already dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza,with aid agencies warning of imminent collapse for those sheltering in damaged buildings and makeshift camps.
Fierce rain and bitter cold have continued to batter the Gaza Strip this weekend,resulting in a rising number of Palestinian deaths. On Sunday alone, two people, including a seven-year-old child, were killed when a wall collapsed due to the inclement weather, according to reports from Gaza’s civil defense authorities.
Collapsing structures and the Search for Shelter
The situation is particularly desperate for those seeking refuge from the heavy rain in the ruins of bombed-out buildings. Aid agencies have cautioned that these dilapidated structures are increasingly prone to collapse under the strain of the harsh conditions. A statement released Sunday by the Hamas-run Government Media Office in Gaza (GMO) indicated that twenty people have lost their lives due to homes and buildings collapsing on those seeking shelter from the severe weather. Since the onset of winter, at least 49 buildings have succumbed to the elements, the GMO added.
For many displaced Palestinians, even the most basic shelter is at risk. Those forced to survive in flimsy, waterlogged tents face the threat of being wholly exposed as strong winds threaten to blow their shelters away. one displaced man in a refugee camp in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, recounted the destruction of his shelter when a nearby tree was uprooted by the wind.
“This is the second tree that has fallen on us because of the wind. Where is the world for us, where are human rights?” the man told CNN on Sunday. “We are sitting here in death.God protected us; or else, everyone here would have been martyred,” he added.
Dire Conditions in Khan Younis and Rafah
The conditions on the ground are rapidly deteriorating. In Khan Younis, residents awoke Sunday to find their tents flooded after a night of intense rainfall, according to a spokesperson for the Civil Defense in the Rafah Governorate. “Even livestock and animals could not live or reside (in these places). But people have been forced to live in these areas because they have no other option than to go back to their destroyed homes,” Ahmed Radwan of Gaza’s Civil Defense explained to CNN.
The spokesperson characterized the latest weather event as a new “catastrophic situation” that is exacerbating an already critical humanitarian picture within the enclave.
UNRWA Calls for Increased Aid
The head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has urgently stressed that aid supplies are not reaching the enclave at the necessary scale. Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s Commissioner-General, stated that the agency could “multiply its efforts tomorrow” if aid were allowed to flow in more freely.
“More rain. More human misery, despair & death. Harsh winter weather is compounding more than two years of suffering. People in Gaza are surviving in flimsy, waterlogged tents & among ruins,” Lazzarini said in a statement posted on X.
The unfolding humanitarian crisis arrives as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares for a meeting with President Donald Trump at Mar-a
