The first major winter storm in the Gaza Strip flooded about 70,000 tents from late Friday, according to the local government media office, which also recorded dozens of collapsed walls and roofs, with injuries — some of them critical. On Sunday, the rescue service said five people died when a mound of sand collapsed onto tents at a shelter centre south of Deir al-Balah, in the centre of the territory.
Accounts of the victims differ: Gaza's rescue service referred to three children and two women, while Al Jazeera reported four children among the five dead. Teams were still searching for missing people at the end of the day.
A real threat to their lives
Civil Defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal said the sand embankment fell onto tents sheltering displaced people. The agency began warning residents not to pitch tents or stay near sand masses and raised earth mounds during the rains, describing them as "a real threat to their lives", and asked humanitarian organisations for equipment.
Civil Defence received at least 1,500 emergency calls and says more than 2,000 buildings are at risk of collapse. Sheltering the population adequately would require at least 300,000 tents. The Gaza government media office put the damage at $3m — a figure that measures lost materials, not the cost of replacing the homes of those left without shelter.
According to Al Jazeera, about 400,000 displaced people are in locations considered highly vulnerable to further flooding. Hundreds of families left flooded camps in Gaza City and in the central and northern areas.
The UN cites immediate risk and a funding gap
In a message posted on X on Saturday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said families in flood-prone areas and in damaged buildings are at "immediate risk" and that it is "deeply concerned for families already affected and those most exposed to the worsening conditions".
The office noted that most of Gaza's 2.1 million residents remain displaced, in deteriorating tents that offer little protection from the weather, and said that "months of funding shortfalls and restrictions have severely constrained preparations". OCHA called for the immediate entry of winter supplies, heavy machinery, engine oil and the spare parts needed to keep humanitarian vehicles and generators running.
Jonathan Veitch, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) special representative in Palestine, said most people are living in "terrible conditions" and asked for more resources. According to Al Jazeera, displaced families in Deir al-Balah had received no food aid since early Saturday.
A fourth winter of war
Israeli restrictions on the entry of supplies, shelter materials and reconstruction inputs remain in force and, in OCHA's assessment, limited preparations for the rainy season.
More than 74,640 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began on 7 October 2023. Since the ceasefire took effect in October 2025, at least 1,610 Palestinians have been killed by Israel.
With information from Al Jazeera, AFP and OCHA.
