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Winter storm causes humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza

A winter storm has exacerbated the crises facing the Gaza Strip, which was already suffering from sewage problems and electricity cuts.
Palestinian civil defence volunteers paddle a boat to evacuate people from their houses that are flooded with rainwater as a poster depicting Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad is seen on a building, in the northern Gaza Strip December 16, 2013. Israel allowed the entry of 450,000 litres of fuel, paid for by Qatar, into the Gaza Strip on Sunday to enable the Palestinian territory's sole power plant to resume operations. Qatar answered an appeal by Gaza's government, led by the Islamist Hamas group, after f
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GAZA CITY. Gaza Strip — Two members of the civil defense forces in Gaza City helped citizens who had been displaced from their homes because of rain to cross a flooded road. They used the metal frame of an old refrigerator stuffed with cork as a boat for transportation, after almost all of the relief machinery and equipment stopped working due to the fuel and electricity crises wracking the Gaza Strip.

A wave of extreme low pressure hit Palestinian territories on Dec. 10, amid cold winds that continued for several days.

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