DaysofPal – Gaza’s Ministry of Health announced on Monday the death of a Palestinian infant due to extreme cold, as severe winter weather continues to batter the besieged enclave, deepening the suffering of hundreds of thousands of displaced people living in makeshift tents and rudimentary shelters that lack even the most basic protection.
As the effects of the powerful low-pressure system intensified, strong winds destroyed and uprooted displacement tents, while heavy rainfall flooded dozens of camps located in low-lying areas.
Families, particularly children and the elderly, have been exposed to heightened risks of drowning, illness, and hypothermia amid acute shortages of resources and a near-total absence of heating and cold-weather protection.
Field sources reported that entire families were forced into the open after their tents were blown away during freezing conditions. More than a quarter of a million displaced people have been affected out of an estimated 1.5 million Palestinians currently living in tents or temporary shelters that fail to meet minimum safety standards.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said on Monday that approximately 235,000 people in Gaza were impacted by Storm Byron, which caused building collapses and extensive damage to tents between December 10 and 17.
In a post on the X platform, UNRWA stated that “months of war and displacement have forced people in Gaza to live among unstable rubble, in temporary shelters, or worn-out tents.” While describing Storm Byron as a natural disaster, the agency stressed that its consequences are “man-made,” pointing to widespread destruction and the absence of safe shelter resulting from Israel’s ongoing war, which has left hundreds of thousands of Palestinians without homes.
According to data shared by UNRWA from Gaza’s Shelter Cluster, a coalition of UN agencies and non-governmental organizations, around 17 buildings collapsed within a single week, while more than 42,000 tents and temporary shelters sustained partial or complete damage, directly affecting at least 235,000 people.
Displaced Palestinians are enduring extremely harsh humanitarian conditions, marked by freezing temperatures and strong winds. Thousands are sheltering in tents made of nylon and thin fabric that provide no insulation against rain or storms. Many have sought refuge in streets, stadiums, public squares, and schools, without heating or protection from rapidly changing weather.
Heavy rainfall and strong winds have flooded numerous tents and swept others away across the Strip, particularly in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Several residential buildings previously damaged by Israeli airstrikes collapsed under the pressure of the severe weather.
The crisis has been further exacerbated by fuel shortages, leaving families unable to secure any means of heating as nighttime temperatures plunge. Children have been particularly affected, with reported deaths linked to cold exposure.
With no alternatives available, many Palestinians have taken shelter in cracked and unstable buildings at risk of collapse, after large parts of residential neighborhoods were destroyed and the entry of mobile homes and construction materials was blocked.
Since the onset of the winter low-pressure systems in early December, at least 20 Palestinians, including four children, have died. Nearly 90 percent of shelters housing displaced families whose homes were destroyed have been flooded, according to a previous statement by Gaza’s Civil Defense.
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