🔗 Share this article

Strong cold-season gusts caused walls to collapse onto fragile tents housing people uprooted by conflict in Gaza, killing at least four individuals. These deaths highlights the perilous living conditions that continue after over two years of intense bombardment and critical shortages of humanitarian assistance.

Truce Offers Little Respite from Severe Weather

While a ceasefire has been in effect since October, aid groups state that Palestinians do not have the sufficient shelter necessary to withstand frequent cold-weather events.

Officials at Shifa hospital, which received the bodies, said on Tuesday that the deceased include two women, a girl, and a male adult.

Separately, the Gaza health ministry stated on the same day that a 12-month-old infant succumbed of hypothermia during the night.

"International actors has allowed us to experience death in every possible way," stated a family member after the funeral. "While it is correct the bombing may have temporarily stopped, but we have seen every conceivable cause of death in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Family Buried in Tent Collapse

As per Shifa hospital, three members of a single family — elderly a man, his teenage relative, and his daughter-in-law — were killed when an 26-foot high wall fell onto their tent in a area near the sea of Gaza City. At least five additional people were hurt in the event.

Their relatives on Tuesday started clearing the debris that had entombed their family and rebuilding the tent shelters for those who remained.

Humanitarian Distribution and Continuing Emergency

The UN and its aid organization allies were distributing tents, plastic sheeting, warm covers and clothes as well as nutrition and hygiene supplies throughout Gaza, stated the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs.

Most of Palestinians reside in improvised shelters since their houses were turned into ruins during the hostilities. Aid groups say not enough shelter materials are entering Gaza during the ceasefire.

Casualty Numbers After the Ceasefire

The Gaza health ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government, says more than 440 individuals have been fatally shot by gunfire and their bodies taken to hospitals since the truce went into effect. The ministry keeps detailed casualty records 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 one hundred minors below eighteen years old – 60 males and 40 females – had been lost their lives since the ceasefire started because of armed actions, such as drone strikes, airstrikes, artillery fire and employment of bullets. Those figures, he said, reflected incidents where enough details had been gathered to warrant documentation, but the overall count is expected to be greater. He added that hundreds of children had been wounded.

"Although 'bombings and gunfire have slowed' under the truce, they have not stopped," the spokesperson told reporters at a UN briefing in the Swiss city by video link from the Strip. "Therefore what the world now terms calm would be viewed as a catastrophe in any other place," he said.

Third Cold Season of Hardship

Gaza’s residents of more than 2 million individuals has been struggling to fend off the cold weather and storms at bay while enduring shortages of humanitarian aid and a absence of sturdier temporary housing, which is badly needed during the colder season. This marks the third cold season since the war involving Israel and Hamas began on a date in late 2023, when militants stormed into Israeli territory and murdered around 1,200 people and took hostage 251 others into Gaza.

Gaza’s health ministry says over 71,400 people have been fatally injured in the subsequent retaliatory offensive.