Harsh Winter Storms Claim 5 Lives in the Gaza Strip Amid Dire Living Situations in Temporary Camps.
Strong cold-season gusts brought walls down upon fragile shelters housing Palestinians uprooted by war in Gaza, claiming the lives of no fewer than 4 individuals. This tragedy underscores the dangerous situation that persist after more than 24 months of intense bombardment and critical shortages of humanitarian assistance.
Ceasefire Provides Little Relief from Severe Weather
While a truce has been in effect from last fall, aid groups report that residents do not have the adequate housing necessary to withstand recurring winter storms.
Officials at Shifa hospital, which took in the bodies, reported on Tuesday that the deceased include a pair of adult females, a young female, and a man.
In a separate incident, the Gaza health ministry stated on the same day that a one-year-old boy died of extreme cold during the night.
"The world has enabled us to witness loss of life in every possible way," said Bassel Hamouda following the funeral. "It’s true the shelling may have temporarily stopped, but we have witnessed every conceivable cause of death in the world in the Gaza Strip."
Family Buried in Tent Collapse
As per the medical center, three people of a single family — 72-year-old Mohamed Hamouda, his 15-year-old relative, and his son's wife — were killed when an 26-foot tall wall fell onto their tent in a coastal area of Gaza City. At least five additional people were hurt in the incident.
Family members on Tuesday started removing the rubble that had buried their family and rebuilding the tent shelters for survivors.
Humanitarian Distribution and Ongoing Emergency
The UN and its humanitarian partners were distributing shelter kits, tarps, blankets and clothing as well as nutrition and hygiene items throughout Gaza, said the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs.
Most of the population reside in improvised tents because their houses were reduced to rubble during the war. Humanitarian organizations contend not enough shelter materials are reaching Gaza during the ceasefire.
Fatality Figures After the Truce
Local health authorities, which is part of the Hamas-run government, says more than 440 people have been fatally shot by gunfire and their remains taken to hospitals since the ceasefire went into effect. The authority maintains comprehensive casualty data that are seen as largely accurate by international bodies and independent experts.
James Elder, representing the UN children's fund, stated on Tuesday that at least 100 minors under the age of 18 – sixty boys and forty girls – had been killed since the ceasefire started due to military operations, including drone strikes, air raids, artillery fire and use of bullets. These numbers, he explained, reflected incidents where enough details had been compiled to warrant documentation, but the overall count is expected to be greater. He noted that many hundreds of minors had been injured.
"Although 'bombings and gunfire have decreased' during the truce, they have not stopped," Elder told reporters at a press conference in the Swiss city by video from the Strip. "So what the international community now calls quiet would be considered a crisis anywhere else," he said.
Another Cold Season of Struggle
Gaza’s residents of over two million people has been struggling to fend off the cold weather and bad weather at bay while facing lack of humanitarian aid and a lack of sturdier temporary housing, which is badly needed throughout the colder season. This marks the 3rd cold season after the war involving the state and Hamas started on 7 October 2023, when fighters stormed into Israeli territory and murdered around twelve hundred people and took hostage two hundred and fifty-one more into Gaza.
Gaza’s health ministry reports over 71,400 people have been fatally injured in the subsequent retaliatory offensive.