DaysofPal- Winter in the Gaza Strip has ceased to be a passing season and has instead become a daily battle for survival, as hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians struggle to endure freezing temperatures and heavy rain inside torn, fragile tents amid the Israeli genocidal war and suffocating blockade.
With every new low-pressure weather system hitting the enclave, the suffering of families who have lost their homes intensifies.
Exposed to biting cold, flooding rain, and strong winds, displaced residents face harsh conditions without even the most basic means of protection or warmth, in a humanitarian tragedy that repeats itself with every rainfall.
Under weak winter sunshine in central Gaza City, 60-year-old Mona Abu Amsha sits on a concrete block beside her worn-out tent, clutching her two grandchildren, Fawzia and Siraj, in an attempt to draw a little warmth before nightfall brings renewed cold and fear.
She watches the sky anxiously, cherishing every moment of sunlight as a rare treasure before dark clouds return to signal another night of suffering.
Abu Amsha lives with her daughter and five grandchildren, the eldest just 10 years old and the youngest only two, after their father was killed.
Since fleeing her home under Israeli bombardment in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, she has known no stability, moving from one displacement site to another before being forcibly settled in a torn tent that offers no real protection from rain or freezing temperatures.
“When night comes, the tent turns into a trap, the wind suddenly grows stronger, rain leaks through every hole, the ground floods, and the blankets get soaked.” She said, noting she recalled being forced to flee the tent in the middle of the night during previous storms and seek shelter with neighbors to avoid drowning.
“We have no shelter, no plastic sheets to protect us from the rain,” Abu Amsha added.
“We only have two mattresses and a few blankets that we all sleep on together, but they don’t keep us warm.” He said.
She said her grandchildren suffer repeated illnesses due to cold and damp conditions, noting that fear grips them whenever new storms are forecast.
Similar hardship is endured by 50-year-old Ahmad Hamada, who lives with his family of 11 in a fragile tent after his home was destroyed on December 6, 2023.
What was meant to be a temporary shelter has become a permanent source of suffering, especially during winter.
“The nights are extremely harsh; the cold is unbearable,” Hamada said, explaining that the family tries to keep warm by huddling together. During the most recent storm, floodwaters seeped into the tent from below while rain poured through holes in the fabric above, leaving the family trapped between water and cold.
“I’m constantly afraid for my children,” he said, adding that the severe cold has caused some of them to avoid drinking water, leading to kidney pain.
“Winter used to be a season of goodness. Today it has become a source of fear; I pray it doesn’t come.”
Hamada called for the urgent provision of plastic sheeting at a minimum and prefabricated housing units to protect families from rain and cold. “A fabric tent does not protect from anything and is not fit for human life,” he said.
In Deir al-Balah, 50-year-old Mona al-Zaza, who now lives in a tent near a water desalination station after her home in Gaza City was destroyed, described stormy nights as “hours of real terror.”
She said her family does not sleep during storms, staying awake to prevent floodwaters from engulfing the tent and destroying what little they have left.
“We sit and watch the sky, listening to the sound of rain piercing the tent’s roof and pounding its torn walls,” al-Zaza said. “Every gust of wind increases the fear—we don’t know when the water will flood us or when the tent will be ripped away.”
During the last storm, floodwaters rushed into the tent before wind and rain tore it apart, forcing the family to flee into darkness and freezing cold to avoid drowning. “For children, winter in a tent is a nightmare,” she said. “We search for any ray of sun, any warmth we can steal from the day, but the night swallows everything.”
Amid the worsening conditions, Gaza’s Civil Defense has renewed its appeal to the international community and humanitarian organizations to recognize the scale of the catastrophe and assume responsibility by providing assistance that preserves civilians’ dignity.
Hamas, meanwhile, called on the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the international community to take urgent action to relieve Gaza, break the blockade, and halt the ongoing Israeli destruction of the Palestinian people in the enclave.
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