Freezing rain floods Gaza camps, leaves displaced Palestinians in dire conditions

Khan Younis (Gaza Strip): Relentless rain battered the Gaza Strip over the weekend, flooding makeshift encampments and turning dirt tracks into streams as displaced Palestinians struggled to keep dry in tents weakened by months of use. In camps across the south, ankle-deep puddles seeped through thin fabric walls, soaking bedding and belongings and forcing families to improvise repairs with scraps of wood and plastic.

In Khan Younis, muddy water pooled inside tents where blankets and mattresses lay drenched. Children in flip-flops and light clothing waded through cold water that collected around shelters, while some residents used shovels to push runoff away. The downpour underscored the lack of durable shelter nearly two and a half months into a fragile ceasefire, with large swathes of the territory still reduced to rubble.

“We drowned last night,” said Majdoleen Tarabein, who was displaced from Rafah and now shelters in the south. “Puddles formed, and there was a bad smell. The tent flew away. We don’t know what to do or where to go.” She held up mud-stained blankets and what remained of her tent as relatives wrung them out by hand.

Nearby, Eman Abu Riziq described waking to water pouring into her family’s shelter. “When we woke up in the morning, we found that the water had entered the tent,” she said, pointing to a puddle just outside. “These are the mattresses. They are all completely soaked. My daughters’ belongings were soaked.” Abu Riziq said her family is still coping with her husband’s recent death while trying to keep dry through winter rains.

Since Dec. 13, at least 12 people, including a two-week-old infant, have died from hypothermia or weather-related collapses of war-damaged homes, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run administration. Emergency workers have warned residents not to remain in damaged buildings that could collapse without warning, but options are scarce. In July, the United Nations Satellite Centre estimated that nearly 80 percent of buildings in Gaza had been destroyed or damaged.

Fighting has dropped sharply since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect on Oct. 11, but casualties have continued to mount. The Health Ministry says 414 people have been killed and 1,142 wounded since the truce began. The overall Palestinian death toll from the war has reached at least 71,266. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and militants, though its detailed records are regarded as generally reliable by international observers.

Humanitarian groups say shelter needs are growing as winter sets in and aid deliveries lag behind commitments. An Associated Press analysis of Israeli military figures shows that in the past week 4,200 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza, along with eight garbage trucks to help sanitation efforts. Tents and winter clothing were also delivered as part of winterisation measures, though officials declined to specify the number of tents.

Aid organisations argue that supplies fall far short of demand. According to the Shelter Cluster, an international coalition led by the Norwegian Refugee Council, about 72,000 tents and 403,000 tarps have entered Gaza since the ceasefire began. “Harsh winter weather is compounding more than two years of suffering,” wrote Philippe Lazzarini, the UN aid chief for Gaza, on X. “People are surviving in flimsy, waterlogged tents and among ruins. Aid supplies are not being allowed in at the scale required.”

Against this backdrop, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu travelled to the United States for talks on the next phase of the truce. Netanyahu is expected to meet US President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida on Monday to discuss moving toward a second stage of the ceasefire.

Progress has slowed despite the agreement largely holding over the past two and a half months. Israel has said it will not advance to the next phase until the remains of the final hostage killed in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war are returned from Gaza. Outstanding issues include the possible deployment of an international stabilisation force, the formation of a technocratic governing body, the disarmament of Hamas, and further Israeli troop withdrawals. Both sides continue to accuse each other of violating the truce.