Gaza flooded: rain and cold kill at least eight people in the Strip

BarcelonaHeavy rains that have fallen since Wednesday in the Gaza Strip have caused flooding that further complicates life for Palestinians in the enclave, which has been ravaged by Israeli bombing. Despite the ceasefire of the last two monthsVirtually all of Gaza's just over two million residents are still displaced, and most are forced to live in very precarious tents. The storm ByronThe storm, which is expected to intensify in the coming days with heavy rain and strong winds, has already caused flooding and damaged the makeshift shelters where displaced Palestinians are living. So far, Gazan authorities have reported eight deaths due to the storm, both from collapsed buildings and from the cold.

Most of the tents are constructed from tarpaulins, pieces of plastic salvaged from rubble, and blankets tied to recycled wooden poles. "When the wind starts to blow, we all hold the poles to keep the tent from falling," Hani Ziara, a father sheltering in western Gaza City, told Al Jazeera. The rain flooded his tent on Wednesday, and his children had to spend the night outside. Aliaa Bahtiti told the Associated Press that her eight-year-old son also "got soaked, sleeping on the water all night, and in the morning he had turned blue." Gaza's Civil Defense reported in a statement this Thursday that an eight-month-old girl had died in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, "due to the cold gripping the region, the lack of shelter, heating, and the most basic protection for children." Nasser Hospital determined her death to be from hypothermia, according to EFE. This Friday, the death toll from the storm rose to eight, according to counts from morgues, ambulance crews, hospitals, and emergency services, EFE reports. Among the Palestinians who have died in recent hours are two other children: a ten-day-old baby and a nine-year-old girl, according to local media.

"Cold, overcrowded, and unsanitary conditions increase the risk of disease and infection," warns UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, which has again called for unimpeded humanitarian aid. "People who have already lost everything and need everything are facing another layer of misery," says the agency's Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini. The Gaza Strip lacks drainage systems to remove accumulated water, and the population has nowhere to take shelter and not enough clothing to keep warm. The entry of humanitarian aid remains severely restricted by Israel, even though the ceasefire agreement stipulated that aid should return to pre-war levels.

This Thursday, Gaza's Civil Defense had received more than 2,500 calls from people whose tents had been damaged. It reported that entire camps in the Al Mawasi, Al Basa, and Deir al Balah areas had been flooded, as well as the Nuseirat and Yarmouk markets and the port of Gaza City. The agency warned people not to take refuge in ruined buildings after at least three structures in the capital, damaged by bombing, collapsed due to the rain. Forecasts for Friday and 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, meaning that "approximately 40% of Gaza's population" could be affected.