Damaged homes are collapsing in Gaza, trapping families under rubble following a winter storm

Families in Gaza face a painful choice following last week’s winter storm: endure exposure in tents after floods destroyed shelters and their belongings, one child died of exposure – or shelter in storm-damaged buildings that could collapse without warning.

A two-story house in northwest Gaza City was the latest to collapse on Tuesday, trapping a family under the rubble, killing a man and seriously injuring a family of five, local authorities said. The latest collapse comes as authorities warned the previous day that the fragile buildings were at risk of collapsing as strong winds and rain continue in Gaza.

Abu Rami Al-Husari, 46, said his brother and nephews were in Hamid Junction in northwest Gaza City when the top floor of the two-story house they were sheltering in, which was damaged by Israeli shelling in the war, fell on them.

“This [winter storm] the wave touched everything so the house fell on top of them,” Al-Husari told CBC’s Mohamed El Saife on Tuesday.

“There is no place to live…nowhere. They are forced to live here.”

Torrential rains and freezing cold plunged Gaza into a deep humanitarian crisis in recent days, with families losing their few possessions and food submerged in their flooded tents. people killed by exposure or by the sudden collapse of a building.

The deaths come as aid groups warn that very little aid is still flowing into Gaza, where almost the entire population is homeless, despite a ceasefire agreement signed by Israel and Hamas on October 10 that aid groups hoped would allow an influx of goods into the war-torn region.

According to the information office of the government of Gaza, at least 11 people died and one person is still missing due to the collapse of buildings that were destroyed by the fighting caused by the storm and the weather.

Meanwhile, more than a dozen buildings have collapsed and more than 27,000 tents used as shelters have been washed away or flooded since the storm hit.

Palestine Civil Defense you have He warned people not to stay inside the damaged buildings, saying they could also fall on them. United Nations and Palestinian officials have said at least 300,000 new tents are needed for the estimated 1.5 million people still displaced, as many have no choice but to take shelter in makeshift structures.

Rescue workers working with basic equipment

Muhammad Shraim, the director of the Palestinian Civil Defense in the northern region, said that the workers were able to rescue the family members with “very basic” equipment.

“There are many buildings damaged by the Israeli army that are in danger of collapsing,” Shraim told the CBC.

On Friday, 12 people died after two buildings collapsed, according to local health authorities.

Mohammad Nassar went out on Friday to buy necessities. When he returned to the six-story building – badly damaged by Israeli airstrikes at the beginning of the war – where his family had taken refuge, it turned into a scene where rescuers struggled to pull bodies from the rubble, including his children.

His 15-year-old son and 18-year-old daughter died when the building collapsed.

“I saw my son’s hand coming out from under the ground. It was an incident that affected me a lot. My son is under the ground, and we can’t get him out,” Nassar told Reuters.

He said his family struggled to find another place to live and had been flooded while living in a tent during bad weather.

The spokesman for Gaza Civil Defense, Mahmoud Basal, appealed to the international community to provide mobile homes and caravans to the displaced Palestinians instead of tents.

“If people are not protected today, we will see more victims, more killings of people, children, women, whole families inside these buildings,” he said on Monday.

New tents are urgently needed

The head of the UN refugee agency in Palestine said that more aid must be allowed to enter Gaza without delay to avoid putting scattered families in great danger.

“Due to the heavy rains and the cold brought by hurricane Byron, the people of the Gaza Strip are dying of cold,” UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini said in an email on Monday. “The waterlogged ruins where they are sheltering are collapsing, causing more exposure to the cold.”

Lazzarini said they have goods that have been waiting for months to enter Gaza. Most of the existing shelters are dilapidated or made of thin plastic and cloth sheets.

COGAT, the Israeli military arm that oversees humanitarian affairs in the Palestinian territories, rejected the UN figures, saying on Monday that an estimated 310,000 tents and tarpaulins had entered Gaza “recently.”

“Claims that suggest that climate-related impacts are caused by the limits imposed do not correspond to the existing facts, and the continuous convergence that occurs every day,” said COGAT to X.

The fighting broke out in October 2023, following an attack led by Hamas in southern Israel that killed around 1,200 people and saw 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli figures. Israel’s military response to Gaza has killed more than 70,600 Palestinians, local health authorities and others say. 393 people killed in Israeli fire during the closing of the agreement, since October 11.