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Powerful winter winds caused walls to collapse onto flimsy tents housing Palestinians uprooted by war in Gaza, claiming the lives of at least four people. This tragedy highlights the dangerous situation that persist after over 24 months of devastating bombardment and severe shortages of humanitarian assistance.

Ceasefire Offers No Respite from Harsh Weather

While a truce has been in effect from last fall, aid groups state that residents do not have the adequate housing necessary to withstand recurring winter storms.

Medical staff at Gaza City's largest medical facility, which took in the victims, reported on this week that the dead were two women, a young female, and a male adult.

In a separate incident, the Gaza health ministry announced on Tuesday that a 12-month-old infant succumbed of extreme cold overnight.

"International actors has enabled us to witness death in every possible way," said a family member after the funeral. "While it is correct the shelling may have temporarily stopped, but we have witnessed every conceivable cause of fatality in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Family Buried in Shelter Collapse

As per Shifa hospital, three people of a single household — 72-year-old Mohamed Hamouda, his teenage relative, and his daughter-in-law — were killed when an 26-foot high wall fell on top of their dwelling in a coastal area of the city. No fewer than five additional people were injured in the event.

Their relatives on that day started clearing the debris that had entombed their family and rebuilding the tent shelters for those who remained.

Humanitarian Efforts and Ongoing Emergency

United Nations agencies and its humanitarian partners were distributing tents, tarps, warm covers and clothes as well as food and sanitation supplies throughout Gaza, said the relevant UN coordination body.

The majority of the population live in makeshift shelters because their houses were turned into rubble over the course of the war. Aid groups contend an insufficient amount of building supplies are entering Gaza during the ceasefire.

Fatality Numbers Since the Truce

Local health authorities, which is part of the Hamas-run government, reports over 440 people have been fatally shot by Israeli fire and their remains brought to hospitals after the ceasefire went into effect. The authority maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as largely accurate by international bodies and independent experts.

James Elder, spokesperson for the UN children's fund, stated on that day that no fewer than one hundred children under the age of 18 – 60 boys and 40 females – had been killed after the truce began due to armed actions, including drone strikes, airstrikes, tank shelling and employment of live ammunition. Those figures, he said, represented cases where sufficient details had been gathered to justify recording, but the overall count is expected to be higher. He noted that many hundreds of children had been injured.

"Although 'explosions and shootings have slowed' during the truce, they have not ceased," the spokesperson informed reporters at a press conference in Geneva by video from Gaza City. "So what the international community now calls calm would be viewed as a catastrophe anywhere else," he concluded.

Third Winter of Hardship

Gaza’s residents of over two million people has been struggling to keep the cold weather and storms at bay while enduring lack of humanitarian aid and a lack of sturdier temporary housing, which is urgently required throughout the colder season. This marks the 3rd cold season since the conflict involving Israel and the group began on 7 October 2023, when militants attacked Israeli territory and murdered around twelve hundred individuals and abducted two hundred and fifty-one others into Gaza.

Gaza’s health ministry says over seventy-one thousand four hundred Palestinians have been fatally injured in the subsequent military campaign.