Heavy rainfall from a new low-pressure system early Tuesday flooded thousands of tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, as well as a hospital.
According to the Türkiye-based Anadolu Agency (AA), rainwater leaked into the sections of al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, especially the reception and emergency department, causing work to be disrupted.
Al-Shifa Hospital, the biggest medical complex of the Gaza Strip, had been exposed to many Israeli strikes over the course of two years of genocide and sustained severe damage.
Gaza Health Ministry's rehabilitation efforts following the cease-fire have failed due to Israel’s prevention of the entry of needed equipment.
Witnesses told AA that thousands of tents for displaced people were also flooded, while some were blown away by the strong winds that have been hitting the Gaza Strip since Monday evening.
"We woke up with the sound of strong winds hitting our tent. We tried to secure it and hold on to it, but the winds uprooted the tent, and all our belongings flew away," Khaled Abdel Aziz told AA.
"I'm outside with my wife and children, sitting in the rain. There is nowhere to shelter," Abdel Aziz said.
Hundreds of Palestinians tried to take shelter from rainwater under parts of buildings destroyed by the Israeli army in Gaza City, according to witnesses.
Maha Abu Jazar, a mother of three, was running haplessly with her children after rainwater completely submerged their tent in the al-Mawasi neighborhood, west of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
Separately, Gaza Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal warned that thousands of homes partially destroyed during the Israeli genocide are at risk of collapsing at any moment due to rain and strong winds.
"These homes pose a grave danger to the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have found no shelter," Basal told AA. "We have warned the world repeatedly, but to no avail."
Mayor of Jabalia, Mazen al-Najjar, told AA that "weather depression came as displaced people already live in catastrophic conditions."
More than 90% of the buildings and streets are completely destroyed in Jabalia and the northern Gaza Strip, compelling Palestinians to live in worn-out tents, the mayor said.
He added that the infrastructure in northern Gaza completely collapsed as a result of the Israeli genocide, causing streets to flood and sewage to overflow in the first hours of the depression.
The mayor also warned Palestinians who live inside buildings at risk of collapse due to past Israeli strikes, stressing that the severely damaged buildings had caused the death and injury of dozens of Palestinians during the previous depression.
Najjar noted that the efforts of municipalities, civil defense teams, and local and international organizations "do not meet the great and growing need" of the enclave.
He called on the international community to immediately introduce mobile homes as a temporary relief measure, establish safe camps and urgently rehabilitate infrastructure and sewage networks.
At least 14 people lost their lives in a winter storm in Gaza last week. Over 53,000 displacement tents were partially or fully flooded, swept away by torrents, or torn apart by strong winds, and 13 buildings collapsed across Gaza.
Nearly 250,000 families are currently living in displacement camps across the Gaza Strip, many facing cold weather and flooding inside fragile tents, according to the Civil Defense.
Although a cease-fire took effect on Oct. 10, living conditions in Gaza have not improved, as Israel continues to impose strict restrictions on the entry of aid trucks, violating the humanitarian protocol of the agreement.
Israel has killed more than 70,600 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 171,100 others in attacks in Gaza since October 2023, which have continued despite the truce.
