Gaza city: A powerful winter storm driven by a low-pressure system has resulted in the deaths of two children and three other Palestinians across the Gaza Strip. Heavy rain, strong winds, and freezing temperatures have battered displacement shelters, causing walls, homes, and tents-many of which were already damaged by Israeli strikes-to collapse. This information comes from medical sources and Civil Defense officials.
According to Anadolu Agency, three Palestinians were killed on Friday in separate incidents due to storm-related structural collapses. Two brothers, Khader and Khalil Iyhab Hanouna, lost their lives when a wall collapsed onto their tent in central Gaza City under intense rainfall, as reported by local sources.
In northern Gaza, Civil Defense teams recovered the body of another Palestinian after a house collapsed in the Beit Lahia area of Jabalia. Two injured children were rescued, and searches are ongoing for potential additional victims beneath the rubble.
Separately, two Palestinian children died from severe cold in their displacement shelters in different parts of Gaza City. They were pronounced dead on arrival at Al-Shifa Hospital, according to medical sources. The first victim, nine-year-old Hadeel Hamdan, was sheltering with her family in a school turned into a displacement center, struggling with harsh conditions and a lack of heating supplies. The second child, an infant identified as Taym al-Khawaja, died from extreme cold while living with his family in their home's remains, already damaged by Israeli strikes in the Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City.
These deaths bring the total number of children who have died from cold exposure since the storm began on Wednesday to three. An infant girl, Rahaf Abu Jazar, died Thursday in Khan Younis after her family's tent flooded with rainwater.
Richard Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization's representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, stated on Friday that Storm Byron had struck Gaza with force, worsening already dire living conditions for displaced families. Speaking in Geneva, Peeperkorn described shelter conditions in Gaza as "shocking," with the cold and rainy winter deepening the suffering of families in unsafe areas. Many displaced people are sheltering in low-lying, debris-filled coastal areas with no drainage or protective barriers, increasing their vulnerability to disease as temperatures drop and rainfall persists.
According to information received over the past 24 hours, 10 people were reported to have died amid heavy rain and cold conditions, with figures provided by Gaza's Health Ministry. Three buildings also collapsed west of Gaza City on Thursday as heavy rain and flooding continued in the enclave.
Approximately 250,000 families are currently living in displacement camps across the Gaza Strip, many facing cold weather and flooding inside fragile tents, as per the Civil Defense. Despite a ceasefire taking effect on Oct. 10, living conditions in Gaza have not improved. Israel continues to impose strict restrictions on the entry of aid trucks, violating the humanitarian protocol of the agreement. Israel has killed more than 70,000 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 171,000 others in attacks in Gaza since October 2023, which have persisted despite the truce.