Severe weather conditions over the past 72 hours have left 14 people dead in Gaza, including three children, according to Munir Al-Boursh, director general of the Gaza-based Health Ministry.
The tragedy comes as thousands of Palestinians remain displaced in tents and temporary shelters following two years of devastating war that reduced much of the enclave to ruins.
Aid group Oxfam said tents flooded with water left Palestinians “wading through sewage, mud and debris with no proper shelter.” The group blamed the crisis on “systematic obstruction of aid.”
One resident, Um Mustafa, pleaded for help after her family’s belongings were destroyed. “The mattress, the blanket, everything, even the clothes, have become soaked with water. … Bring me a mattress. Bring me a tent. I beg you, for God’s sake, help me,” she told CNN.
Her food supplies — flour and rice — were ruined, leaving her panicked in the middle of the night. “All my children became soaked by the rainwater,” she said.
Authorities confirmed that weakened buildings and shelters collapsed under the storm. An eight-month-old baby, Rahaf, died of hypothermia, her family said.
The Hamas-run government media office reported that more than 27,000 tents were swept away, affecting at least 250,000 people.
Aid Blockages and Political Tensions
Israel and Hamas reached a truce in October, halting the two-year war and allowing aid into Gaza. But Oxfam accused Israeli authorities of continuing to block shelter materials, fuel, and water infrastructure, leaving people exposed to “entirely preventable harm.”
“When access is denied, storms become deadly. This suffering is being manufactured by policy, not weather,” Oxfam said.
Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) countered, saying it is committed to facilitating aid. “Hundreds of trucks enter each day carrying food, water, fuel, gas, medicines, medical equipment, tents and shelter equipment,” COGAT stated.
The agency added it has coordinated the transfer of “close to 270,000 tents and tarpaulins directly to the residents of the Gaza Strip” and is planning a catered humanitarian response for winter.
Despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s public embrace of the truce in September, significant gaps remain.
The US is pressing for the next phase of the ceasefire, but Israel has conditioned progress on the return of the final deceased hostage and continues to resist US efforts to resolve a standoff with isolated Hamas militants in southern Gaza.
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