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Powerful cold-season winds caused walls to collapse onto flimsy shelters sheltering people displaced by war in Gaza, claiming the lives of at least 4 individuals. This tragedy highlights the dangerous living conditions that continue after more than two years of intense bombardment and severe lack of aid.

Ceasefire Provides Little Relief from Harsh Elements

Although a ceasefire has been in effect from October, aid groups report that Palestinians do not have the adequate housing necessary to survive recurring winter storms.

Officials at Gaza City's largest medical facility, which took in the bodies, reported on Tuesday that the deceased were two women, a girl, and a male adult.

In a separate incident, the local health authority stated on Tuesday that a one-year-old boy succumbed of extreme cold overnight.

"The world has allowed us to witness loss of life in every possible way," stated a family member following the burial. "It’s true the bombing may have paused for now, but we have seen every conceivable cause of death in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Relatives Crushed in Shelter Collapse

According to Shifa hospital, 3 people of a one family — elderly Mohamed Hamouda, his 15-year-old granddaughter, and his son's wife — were fatally injured when an eight-metre tall wall fell on top of their dwelling in a area near the sea of Gaza City. No fewer than five others were injured in the event.

Their relatives on that day began clearing the debris that had buried their family and reconstructing the temporary homes for survivors.

Humanitarian Efforts and Continuing Emergency

United Nations agencies and its humanitarian partners were distributing tents, plastic sheeting, blankets and clothes as well as nutrition and hygiene supplies across Gaza, said the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs.

Most of Palestinians reside in improvised tents because their homes were reduced to rubble during the war. Humanitarian organizations say an insufficient amount of shelter materials are reaching Gaza during the truce.

Fatality Numbers Since the Ceasefire

Local health authorities, part of the administration, says over four hundred and forty individuals have been killed by Israeli fire and their remains brought to hospitals after the ceasefire began. The ministry keeps comprehensive fatality data that are considered largely accurate by UN agencies and outside analysts.

A spokesperson for UNICEF, spokesperson for the UN children’s agency Unicef, said on that day that no fewer than 100 children below eighteen years old – sixty boys and 40 females – had been killed after the ceasefire began because of military operations, including drone strikes, airstrikes, tank shelling and use of live ammunition. These numbers, he said, represented incidents where sufficient information had been gathered to justify documentation, but the overall count is believed to be greater. He noted that hundreds of minors had been wounded.

"Although 'explosions and gunfire have decreased' during the truce, they have not stopped," the spokesperson informed reporters at a UN briefing in the Swiss city by video link from the Strip. "Therefore what the international community now calls calm would be viewed as a crisis anywhere else," he concluded.

Another Winter of Hardship

Gaza’s population of over 2 million individuals has been struggling to fend off the freezing temperatures and storms away while enduring shortages of assistance and a absence of sturdier temporary housing, which is urgently required throughout the colder season. It’s the third winter after the conflict between the state and the group started on 7 October 2023, when fighters attacked southern Israel and murdered approximately 1,200 individuals and took hostage 251 others into Gaza.

The local health authority says more than seventy-one thousand four hundred Palestinians have been killed in the subsequent military campaign.