Winter Storms Take 5 Lives in Gaza Amid Dire Living Situations in Temporary Shelters.
Strong winter gusts caused walls to collapse onto fragile shelters housing people displaced by war in Gaza, killing no fewer than four individuals. This tragedy underscores the dangerous living conditions that persist after over 24 months of intense airstrikes and severe lack of aid.
Truce Offers No Respite from Severe Weather
Although a ceasefire has been active since last fall, humanitarian organizations report that residents do not have the adequate shelter required to survive recurring cold-weather events.
Medical staff at Shifa hospital, which took in the victims, reported on Tuesday that the deceased were two women, a girl, and a male adult.
In a separate incident, the Gaza health ministry announced on Tuesday that a one-year-old boy died of extreme cold overnight.
"The world has enabled us to witness loss of life in every possible way," said Bassel Hamouda after the burial. "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 Shelter Collapse
As per Shifa hospital, 3 members of a one household — 72-year-old Mohamed Hamouda, his 15-year-old granddaughter, and his son's wife — were fatally injured when an eight-metre high wall collapsed onto their dwelling in a area near the sea of the city. At least 5 additional people were injured in the event.
Family members on Tuesday began clearing the rubble that had buried their family and rebuilding the temporary homes for survivors.
Humanitarian Distribution and Ongoing Crisis
The UN and its humanitarian partners were distributing shelter kits, tarps, warm covers and clothing as well as food and hygiene items across Gaza, stated the relevant UN coordination body.
The majority of Palestinians live in makeshift tents because their homes were reduced to ruins over the course of the war. Humanitarian organizations say an insufficient amount of shelter materials are reaching Gaza under the truce.
Casualty Figures After the Ceasefire
The Gaza health ministry, which is part of the administration, says over 440 individuals have been killed by gunfire and their bodies taken to hospitals after the truce went into effect. The authority keeps comprehensive fatality data that are considered largely accurate by international bodies and outside analysts.
James Elder, representing the UN children’s agency Unicef, stated on that day that at least 100 minors below eighteen years old – 60 males and forty girls – had been killed since the ceasefire started because of armed actions, including drone strikes, air raids, artillery fire and employment of live ammunition. Those figures, he said, reflected cases where enough details had been gathered to justify documentation, but the total toll is believed to be greater. He added that many hundreds of minors had been injured.
"While 'explosions and shootings have decreased' during the truce, 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 quiet would be viewed as a catastrophe in any other place," he concluded.
Third Winter of Hardship
Gaza’s residents of more than 2 million individuals has been struggling to keep the freezing temperatures and bad weather away while enduring lack of assistance and a lack of more substantial transitional shelter, which is badly needed throughout the winter months. This marks the 3rd winter after the conflict between Israel and Hamas started on a date in late 2023, when fighters attacked Israeli territory and killed approximately 1,200 people and abducted 251 others into Gaza.
The local health authority reports over 71,400 Palestinians have been fatally injured in Israel’s military campaign.
