Storm kills 11 in Gaza as cold and collapsing buildings add to war’s devastation
By isabelle // 2025-12-12
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  • Deadly winter storm kills at least 11 Palestinians in Gaza, including three children.
  • Flooding and high winds collapse war-damaged buildings and tents.
  • More than 27,000 tents have been destroyed, leaving hundreds of thousands exposed.
  • Aid agencies blame Israeli restrictions on shelter materials for worsening the crisis.
  • Survivors describe scenes of profound misery, with families flooded by sewage and rain.
A brutal winter storm has delivered a deadly new blow to the displaced and traumatized population of Gaza, killing at least 11 Palestinians in 24 hours through exposure and collapsing buildings. The victims included three children who succumbed to the cold and rainwater, a grim testament to the shattered infrastructure and desperate living conditions that persist despite a ceasefire. Storm Byron, lashing the region this week, has devastated a territory where nearly 1.5 million people now live in tents amid the ruins of their homes, exposing a humanitarian catastrophe that aid agencies warn is being exacerbated by Israeli restrictions on shelter materials. The details are heartbreaking. In Gaza City, nine-year-old Hadeel Hamdan and an infant, Taim Khawaja, died from the cold. In Khan Younis, eight-month-old Rahaf Abu Jazar perished after rainwater leaked into her family’s flimsy tent overnight. “When we woke up, we found the rain over her and the wind on her, and the girl died of cold suddenly,” her mother, Hejar Abu Jazar, told Reuters. “There was nothing wrong with her. Oh, the fire in my heart.” Beyond the exposure, the storm proved structurally catastrophic for a landscape already pulverized by war. Five people were killed when a damaged house in Beit Lahia collapsed under floods and strong winds. Three more died from separate wall collapses on tents in Gaza City and the al-Shati refugee camp. The Gaza-based Government Media Office reported at least 13 buildings, already weakened by Israeli bombing, had fully collapsed due to the weather.

A landscape of soaked misery

The scene across displacement camps is one of profound misery. Torrential rains have flooded hundreds of tent encampments, turning dirt roads into rivers of mud and sewage. “We have been drowned. I don’t have clothes to wear and we have no mattresses left,” said Um Salman Abu Qenas, a displaced mother in Khan Younis. Families found their meager possessions and food supplies soaked, with children standing in knee-deep opaque brown water. “My little daughters were screaming,” said Sabreen Qudeeh, describing rainwater leaking from her tent’s ceiling. The scale of the shelter crisis is immense. More than 27,000 tents have been destroyed or swept away by floods and winds, affecting more than 250,000 displaced people. The civil defense service reported receiving thousands of distress calls but struggling to respond due to crippled equipment and fuel shortages. Municipal officials note that Israel has destroyed hundreds of essential vehicles, including bulldozers and water pumps, during the war.

Blockaded aid and broken promises

This suffering unfolds against a backdrop of what aid groups call a deliberate blockade of reconstruction materials. Despite a ceasefire agreement stipulating Israel must allow 300,000 tents and mobile homes into Gaza, the entry of adequate shelter has been severely limited. Amjad al-Shawa, Gaza chief of the Palestinian NGO Network, told Al Jazeera only a fraction of the needed tents had entered. The Norwegian Refugee Council’s Shelter Cluster estimates far fewer tents have arrived than Israeli authorities claim. The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, stated on social media, “Cold, overcrowded, and unsanitary environments heighten the risk of illness and infection. This suffering could be prevented by unhindered humanitarian aid, including medical support and proper shelter.” Israeli human rights group B’Tselem accused Israel of blocking aid, leaving people “exposed to the worst of winter” with “literally nowhere dry to shelter.” For the people of Gaza, the storm is a cruel multiplier of their wartime trauma. They face what analyst Ori Goldberg described as a profound indifference from an Israeli public that has been conditioned through years of dehumanization. “As far as they’re concerned, everything that happens to Palestinians is Palestinians’ fault,” Goldberg told Al Jazeera. “Israel bears absolutely no responsibility, and they’re not sorry – they’re just indifferent.” As clouds mass over Gaza’s shore, the storm offers a disturbing preview. It is a natural disaster intersecting with a man-made one, where survival depends not on preparedness but on a desperate endurance that has already been stretched far beyond human limits. The population, already battered by war and starvation, is now forced to battle the elements without walls, without warmth, and without the basic means to protect their children from the rain. Sources for this article include: MiddleEastEye.net APNews.com AlJazeera.com CBC.ca AlJazeera.com
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