Gaza, flooded: "Entire families are sleeping on soaked mattresses"
More than 850,000 people are in high-risk areas due to the storm, which has left at least fourteen dead, while the Israeli blockade continues.
BarcelonaThe polar storm ByronThe storm, which has been bringing heavy rains to the Gaza Strip since Wednesday, is wreaking havoc in the territory devastated by Israeli bombings. Despite the ceasefire of the last two monthsVirtually all of Gaza's more than two million residents still live displaced and in very precarious tents. So far, Gaza authorities have reported at least fourteen deaths due to the storm, both from collapsed buildings and from the cold. The storm is expected to intensify in the coming days.
"The few buildings that are still half-standing have flooded because they were partially destroyed by the bombings. There's no way to heat up, and even finding wood is difficult, which, like gas and fuel, is very expensive because of the Israeli blockade," Amal Man al-Balah, in the center of the Strip, explained to ARA. "And for the people living in tents, the situation is tragic: many have been swept away, and the water has carried off everything inside. Many families are now out in the open," she added. The temperature dropped to eight degrees Celsius today. The educator explains that her eight-year-old grandson, Mohamad, spent the night soaked: "He was freezing this morning and got cold, but we don't have any medicine to give him."
An eight-month-old girl has died in Khan Yunis from hypothermia, according to medical sources. Among the Palestinians who have died in the last few hours are two other children, a baby just ten days old and a nine-year-old girl, according to local press. "The humanitarian situation is unbearable," Gazan journalist Elina Eliassi explained in a WhatsApp message to this newspaper. "The tents, especially those near the coast, have been flooded beyond repair. Entire families, with children, the elderly, and people with disabilities, are sleeping on soaked mattresses, without heat, insulation, or any kind of assistance." "I've seen desperate people trying to bail water out of their tents with buckets, protecting their babies from the cold with plastic bags, and lighting fires in extremely dangerous conditions just to survive the nights. The storm hasn't just flooded Gaza: it has laid bare the full scale of vulnerability we live with every day."
Two months after the ceasefire agreement brokered by Donald Trump, which has failed to prevent the deaths of nearly 400 Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli army, Benjamin Netanyahu's government continues to block the entry of humanitarian aid into the Strip, including food and medicine. Homes have been partially or completely destroyed by Israeli bombing. The agreement stipulates the entry of 600 trucks per day, but only an average of 140 have been able to enter Gaza in these two months. "The blockade is not just a delay, it's a death sentence: fuel, medicine, clothing, and even clean water are running out," Eliassi warns. "We're not just facing a storm, but deadly restrictions amid international neglect. It's a humanitarian collapse on camera."
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, warned that the cold, overcrowded, and unsanitary conditions increase the risk of disease and infection and reiterated its call for the unimpeded entry of humanitarian aid. The Gaza Strip lacks drainage systems to remove accumulated water, and the population has nowhere to take shelter and not enough warm clothing. Civil defense teams have received more than 4,300 calls from people whose tents have been damaged and estimate that 27,000 have been rendered unusable. They reported that entire camps in the Al Mawasi, Al Basa, and Deir al Balah areas, as well as the Nuseirat and Yarmouk markets and the port of Gaza City, were flooded. The agency warned against seeking refuge in ruined buildings after at least three structures damaged by bombing collapsed in the rain.
Forecasts for the weekend threaten to worsen the situation even further. UN spokesman Farhan Haq warned yesterday at a press conference—citing the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)—that an estimated 850,000 people are in areas at high risk of flooding, that is, "approximately 40% of the population of Gaza."