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Powerful cold-season gusts caused walls to collapse upon flimsy tents housing people uprooted by war in Gaza, claiming the lives of at least 4 people. These deaths highlights the dangerous situation that persist after more than 24 months of devastating airstrikes and severe shortages of humanitarian assistance.

Truce Provides Little Relief from Severe Weather

Although a ceasefire has been active from October, humanitarian organizations state that residents do not have the adequate housing required to withstand frequent cold-weather events.

Medical staff at Shifa hospital, which took in the bodies, said on Tuesday that the deceased were a pair of adult females, a girl, and a man.

Separately, the Gaza health ministry announced on the same day that a one-year-old boy succumbed of extreme cold during the night.

"International actors has enabled us to experience loss of life in every possible way," stated Bassel Hamouda after the burial. "It’s true the shelling may have paused for now, but we have seen all imaginable reasons of fatality in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Relatives Buried in Tent Collapse

According to Shifa hospital, three people of a single family — elderly Mohamed Hamouda, his 15-year-old relative, and his daughter-in-law — were killed when an 26-foot high wall collapsed on top of their tent in a area near the sea of the city. At least 5 additional people were hurt in the event.

Family members on Tuesday started removing the debris that had entombed their loved ones and reconstructing the temporary homes for those who remained.

Humanitarian Distribution and Ongoing Crisis

United Nations agencies and its humanitarian partners were distributing tents, plastic sheeting, warm covers and clothing as well as nutrition and sanitation items throughout Gaza, stated the relevant UN coordination body.

The majority of Palestinians reside in makeshift shelters since their homes were reduced to rubble over the course of the war. Humanitarian organizations say an insufficient amount of shelter materials are entering Gaza during the ceasefire.

Fatality Figures Since the Ceasefire

Local health authorities, part of the Hamas-run government, reports more than 440 people have been fatally shot by gunfire and their bodies taken to hospitals after the truce began. The authority keeps detailed casualty records that are considered generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts.

James Elder, spokesperson for the UN children's fund, stated on that day that no fewer than 100 minors under the age of 18 – 60 boys and 40 females – had been lost their lives after the ceasefire started because of armed actions, including drone strikes, airstrikes, artillery fire and employment of bullets. Those figures, he explained, represented cases where enough details had been compiled to warrant recording, but the total toll is believed to be greater. He added that hundreds of children had been injured.

"Although 'bombings and gunfire have slowed' under the ceasefire, they have not stopped," Elder informed journalists at a UN briefing in the Swiss city by video link from Gaza City. "Therefore what the world now calls quiet would be considered a catastrophe in any other place," he said.

Third Cold Season of Hardship

Gaza’s residents of over two million individuals has been struggling to fend off the freezing temperatures and storms away while enduring lack of assistance and a lack of sturdier transitional shelter, which is urgently needed during the winter months. It’s the 3rd cold season since the war between Israel and the group began on 7 October 2023, when fighters attacked Israeli territory and killed approximately twelve hundred individuals and took hostage 251 more into Gaza.

Gaza’s health ministry reports more than 71,400 Palestinians have been killed in the subsequent military campaign.