Heavy rains leave tens of thousands without shelter in Gaza: local authorities

Heavy rain on Saturday flooded tens of thousands of displaced people's tents in war-devastated Gaza, Palestinian authorities said, leaving them without shelter.

In a statement, the Hamas-run government media office said that about "70,000 tents sheltering tens of thousands of displaced people were flooded on the first day" of rains. 

It also noted the "collapse of dozens of cracked walls and roofs, which caused injuries", some critical, in various areas of the tiny territory.

Since early Saturday, hundreds of displaced families have been seen fleeing camps in parts of Gaza City and in the central and northern areas of the Strip after they were inundated by rainwater.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told AFP his teams had received more than 1,500 calls during the night from residents requesting urgent assistance after their tents were flooded, explaining that the agency "is operating without any equipment or capabilities". 

"We have issued an urgent distress call to the international community and humanitarian organisations to intervene immediately to save hundreds of thousands of displaced people from the flooding of their tents." 

"We cannot face the consequences of this storm on our own." 

Um Muhammad al-Hersh, 45, who lives with her family in a tent in western Gaza, told AFP: "We were not able to save the mattresses, and all the clothes were soaked. Our suffering is repeated every winter." 

Maryam Odeh, 34, who lives with her children in Deir al-Balah, said, "We no longer know how to protect our children. My children ask me where we will sleep tonight, and I have no answer". 

For his part, Khaled al-Najjar, 41, said, "We fear for our children not only from the flooding of the tents, but also from the cold and the widespread diseases". 

A coalition of Palestinian civil society organisations warned in a statement of "the catastrophe that has come to threaten the lives of hundreds of thousands of residents", pointing to the risk of the spread of diseases and epidemics. 

The coalition, which includes dozens of local institutions and organisations, called for "pressure on Israel to allow the entry of humanitarian aid without restrictions". 

A fragile ceasefire came into effect on October 10, 2025, after two years of war that erupted following the unprecedented attack carried out by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023. 

Despite the ceasefire agreement reached with Egyptian, Qatari, and American mediation, the Israeli army continues airstrikes and ground operations on an almost daily basis. 

Mustafa Qazzaat, a member of the Gaza city council and an official in the Strip's emergency committee, said Israel has not allowed prefabricated homes to shelter the displaced in Gaza since the truce was announced, and has only permitted the entry of limited numbers of tents. 

Qazzaat told AFP on Saturday that Gaza "needs 200,000 prefabricated homes urgently, in addition to the entry of heavy machinery to remove the rubble of destroyed homes and buildings, open main roads, and urgently provide electricity and heating". 

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