Winter storm rips through Gaza, exposing failure to deliver enough aid to territory – Naharnet

by Naharnet Newsdesk 11 December 2025, 08:50

Rains drenched Gaza’s tent camps and dropping temperatures chilled Palestinians huddling inside them Thursday as storm Byron descended on the war-battered territory, showing how two months of a ceasefire have failed to sufficiently address the spiraling humanitarian crisis there.

Children’s sandaled feet disappeared under opaque brown water that flooded the camps. Trucks moved slowly to avoid sending waves of mud toward the tents. Piles of garbage and sewage turned to waterfalls.

“We have been drowned. I don’t have clothes to wear and we have no mattresses left,” said Um Salman Abu Qenas, a mother displaced from east of Khan Younis to a tent camp in Deir al-Balah. She said her family could not sleep the night before because of the water in the tent.

Aid groups say not enough shelter aid is getting into Gaza during the truce. Figures recently released by Israel’s military suggest it has not met the ceasefire stipulation of allowing 600 trucks of aid into Gaza a day, though Israel disputes that finding.

“Cold, overcrowded, and unsanitary environments heighten the risk of illness and infection,” said the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, in a terse statement posted on X. “This suffering could be prevented by unhindered humanitarian aid, including medical support and proper shelter.”

Rains falling across the region wreak havoc in Gaza

Sabreen Qudeeh, also in the Deir al-Balah camp, said her family woke up to rain leaking from their tent’s ceiling and water from the street soaking their mattresses. “My little daughters were screaming and got shocked when they saw water on the floor,” she said.

Ahmad Abu Taha, a Palestinian man in the camp, said there was not a tent that escaped the flooding. “Conditions are very bad, we have old people, displaced, and sick people inside this camp,” he said.

In Israel, heavy rains fell and flood warnings were in effect in several parts of the country — but no major weather-related emergencies were reported as of midday.

The contrasting scenes with Gaza made clear how profoundly the Israel-Hamas war had damaged the territory, destroying the majority of homes. Gaza’s population of around 2 million is almost entirely displaced and most people live in vast tent camps stretching for miles along the beach, exposed to the elements, without adequate flooding infrastructure and with cesspits dug near tents as toilets.

The Palestinian Civil Defense, part of the Hamas-run government, said that since the storm began they have received more than 2,500 distress calls from citizens whose tents and shelters were damaged in all parts of the Gaza Strip.

Not enough aid getting in

Aid groups say that Israel is not allowing enough aid into Gaza to begin rebuilding the territory after years of war.

Under the agreement, Israel agreed to comply with aid stipulations from an earlier January 2025 truce, which specified that it allow 600 trucks of aid each day into Gaza and an agreed-upon number of temporary homes and tents. It maintains it is doing so, though AP has found that some of its own figures call that into question.

COGAT said Dec. 9, without providing evidence, that it had “lately” let 260,000 tents and tarpaulins into Gaza and over 1,500 trucks of blankets and warm clothing. The Shelter Cluster, an international coalition of aid providers led by the Norwegian Refugee Council, sets the number lower.

It says UN and international NGOs have gotten 15,590 tents into Gaza since the truce began, and other countries have sent about 48,000. Many of the tents are not properly insulated, the Cluster says.

Amjad al-Shawa, Gaza chief of the Palestinian NGO Network, told Al Jazeera Thursday that only a fraction of the 300,000 tents needed had entered Gaza. He said that Palestinians were in dire need of warmer winter clothes and accused Israel of blocking the entry of water pumps helpful to clear flooded shelters.

“All international sides should take the responsibility regarding conditions in Gaza,” he said. “There is real danger for people in Gaza at all levels.”

Senior Hamas official Khaled Mashaal said that many people’s tents have become worn out after the two-year war, and people cannot find new places to shelter. He said Gaza also needs the rehabilitation of hospitals, the entry of heavy machinery to remove rubble, and the opening of the Rafah crossing — which remains closed after Israel said last week it would open in a few days.

COGAT did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the claims that Israel was not allowing water pumps or heavy machinery into Gaza.

Ceasefire at a critical point

Mashaal, the Hamas official, called for moving to the second, more complicated phase of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire.

“The reconstruction should start in the second phase as today there is suffering in terms of shelter and stability,” Mashaal said in comments released by Hamas on social media.

Regional leaders have said time is critical for the ceasefire agreement as mediators seek to move to phase 2. But obstacles to moving forward remain.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Wednesday that the militants needed to return the body of a final hostage first.

Hamas has said Israel must open key border crossings and cease deadly strikes on the territory.

SourceAssociated Press

https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/317088

Fourteen Palestinians, including children, die inGaza amid Storm Byron – Al Jazeera

Desperate families already displaced by Israel’s devastating war, face deadly collapses and freezing conditions as storm hits.

By Elis Gjevori. 12 Dec 202512 Dec 2025

Storm Byron has swept across the Gaza Strip, killing at least 14 people and injuring others as harsh winds, relentless rain and collapsing structures crush families already displaced by Israel’s devastating assault on the enclave, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Interior and National Security.

The ministry said five people died overnight into Friday after a house sheltering displaced civilians in Bir an-Naaja, in northern Gaza, collapsed during the storm.

At dawn, two more people were killed when a wall gave way and fell onto tents in Gaza City’s Remal neighbourhood. A day earlier, another person died after a structural collapse in Shati refugee camp, while a newborn in al-Mawasi succumbed to the freezing temperatures.

Medical staff in Gaza report an alarming rise in deaths linked to exposure. A source at al-Shifa Hospital told Al Jazeera Arabic that nine-year-old Hadeel al-Masri died in a shelter west of Gaza City, while baby Taim al-Khawaja died in Shati camp.

In Khan Younis, eight-month-old Rahaf Abu Jazar died after rain flooded her family’s tent.

Relatives said the family had been seeking refuge in a roofless, bombed-out home after an Israeli air strike destroyed their own house.

“Yesterday, we were surprised to hear his mother screaming, saying, ‘My son is blue!’ so we carried the boy and went to al-Rantisi Hospital,” the child’s grandfather said. “His temperature remained between 33 and 34 degrees [Celsius; 91.4 – 93.2 degrees Fahrenheit], which has affected all his organs. His brain began to deteriorate, and that was the end of it.”

Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim al-Khalili, reporting from al-Mawasi in southern Gaza, said Storm Byron has turned flimsy shelters into deadly traps.

“Officials are warning that there could be floods, heavy rain and hail, continuing through today. It is expected to threaten some 850,000 people, including many children, sheltering in 761 sites,” he reported.

“Here, tents have been destroyed due to the heavy rain and wind, leaving families facing ruined makeshift shelters.”’

Large sections of the shoreline have collapsed, further endangering tents pitched metres from the sea.

Al-Khalili said families, pushed from place to place through more than two years of Israeli bombardment, now face “an added layer of suffering”.

“The tents are collapsing; the cold is unbearable. Basically, they don’t have anywhere to go. What is unfolding is devastating,” he said. “It’s not just a storm; it’s a new wave of displacement even after the war has stopped. Many people here told me that a new war has really begun after this flooding, and people are being forced to flee whatever fragile shelters they had.”

Most of Gaza is ‘homeless’

Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said at least 10 houses collapsed in the last 24 hours, with more expected to crumble at any time.

Palestinians remain inside these buildings because they have no tarpaulins, no tents and no alternative shelter as Israeli authorities continue to block winterisation supplies.

“Most of Gaza’s population is currently homeless,” she said.

Civil defence crews say they retrieved one body and rescued two injured children from the rubble in Bir an-Naaja, with more people believed trapped beneath collapsed homes.

The Ministry of Interior said emergency teams have received more than 4,300 distress calls since the storm began, and recorded at least 12 collapses of buildings previously hit by Israeli strikes.

Despite having almost no equipment or fuel, police and civil defence teams continue rescue operations, the ministry said. It urged international actors to pressure Israel to allow critical aid and shelter materials into the Strip.

“What is happening now is a wake-up call for everyone to face up to their responsibilities,” the statement read.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/12/fourteen-palestinians-including-children-die-in-gaza-amid-storm-byron