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Powerful cold-season gusts caused walls to collapse onto fragile tents sheltering people displaced by war in Gaza, claiming the lives of at least 4 individuals. This tragedy highlights the perilous living conditions that persist after over 24 months of devastating bombardment and critical lack of humanitarian assistance.

Truce Provides Little Relief from Harsh Elements

While a ceasefire has been active from last fall, humanitarian organizations report that residents broadly lack the adequate shelter necessary to survive frequent winter storms.

Medical staff at Shifa hospital, which received the bodies, said on Tuesday that the dead include a pair of adult females, a girl, and a man.

Separately, the local health authority announced on Tuesday that a one-year-old boy died of hypothermia during the night.

"International actors has enabled us to witness death in all its forms," stated Bassel Hamouda following the burial. "While it is correct the shelling may have paused for now, but we have seen every conceivable cause of fatality in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Relatives Buried in Tent Collapse

As per the medical center, three members 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 fell on top of their dwelling in a area near the sea of the city. No fewer than 5 others were hurt in the incident.

Family members on that day began clearing the rubble that had entombed their loved ones and rebuilding the tent shelters for those who remained.

Humanitarian Efforts and Continuing Crisis

United Nations agencies and its aid organization allies were distributing tents, plastic sheeting, warm covers and clothing as well as food and sanitation supplies throughout Gaza, stated the relevant UN coordination body.

The majority of Palestinians live in improvised shelters because their houses were reduced to rubble over the course of the hostilities. Aid groups say not enough shelter materials are reaching Gaza during the ceasefire.

Casualty Numbers After the Ceasefire

Local health authorities, part of the administration, reports over 440 people have been fatally shot by Israeli fire and their bodies taken to hospitals since the truce went into effect. The authority maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as largely accurate by international bodies and independent experts.

James Elder, representing the UN children's fund, stated on that day that at least one hundred children under the age of 18 – 60 males and 40 females – had been killed after the truce started because of armed actions, such as drone strikes, air raids, artillery fire and use of bullets. These numbers, he said, reflected incidents where enough details had been gathered to warrant documentation, but the overall count is expected to be greater. He noted that many hundreds of children had been wounded.

"While 'bombings and gunfire have slowed' during the truce, they have not stopped," Elder informed journalists at a UN briefing in Geneva by video link from Gaza City. "Therefore what the world now calls quiet would be considered a crisis in any other place," he said.

Third Winter of Hardship

Gaza’s population of over 2 million people has been struggling to keep the cold weather and storms away while enduring lack of assistance and a lack of more substantial transitional shelter, which is badly needed throughout the colder season. This marks the 3rd winter after the conflict involving Israel and Hamas began on 7 October 2023, when militants attacked Israeli territory and killed approximately 1,200 individuals and took hostage two hundred and fifty-one others into Gaza.

Gaza’s health ministry reports over 71,400 Palestinians have been fatally injured in Israel’s military campaign.