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Powerful winter gusts caused walls to collapse onto flimsy tents sheltering Palestinians displaced by war in Gaza, claiming the lives of at least four people. This tragedy underscores the perilous situation that persist after over two years of devastating airstrikes and severe lack of aid.

Truce Provides Little Respite from Harsh Weather

While a truce has been in effect since last fall, humanitarian organizations report that residents do not have the adequate housing required to survive frequent cold-weather events.

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

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

"International actors has enabled us to experience death in every possible way," stated a family member after the funeral. "It’s true the shelling may have temporarily stopped, but we have witnessed every conceivable cause of fatality in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Family Crushed in Tent Collapse

According to Shifa hospital, three members of a one family — 72-year-old Mohamed Hamouda, his teenage relative, and his son's wife — were fatally injured when an eight-metre tall wall collapsed on top of their dwelling in a area near the sea of Gaza City. At least five others were injured in the incident.

Family members on that day began removing the rubble that had buried their family and reconstructing the tent shelters for survivors.

Aid Efforts and Continuing Emergency

The UN and its humanitarian partners were handing out tents, plastic sheeting, blankets and clothing as well as nutrition and sanitation supplies throughout Gaza, said the relevant UN coordination body.

Most of the population live in makeshift tents since their houses were reduced to ruins over the course of the hostilities. Aid groups say not enough building supplies are entering Gaza during the truce.

Fatality Numbers Since the Ceasefire

The Gaza health ministry, part of the administration, says over 440 individuals have been killed by Israeli fire and their bodies taken to hospitals after the ceasefire began. The ministry maintains comprehensive casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by international bodies and outside analysts.

James Elder, representing the UN children’s agency Unicef, stated on that day that at least 100 children below eighteen years old – 60 males and forty girls – had been lost their lives after the truce started because of military operations, such as unmanned aerial vehicle attacks, airstrikes, artillery fire and employment of live ammunition. These numbers, he said, represented incidents where sufficient details had been compiled to justify recording, but the overall count is expected to be greater. He added that many hundreds of minors had been wounded.

"While 'explosions and gunfire have slowed' under the ceasefire, they have not stopped," Elder told journalists at a UN briefing in the Swiss city by video link from the Strip. "So what the world now terms quiet would be considered a catastrophe in any other place," he concluded.

Third Winter of Struggle

Gaza’s residents of over two million people has been struggling to fend off the freezing temperatures and bad weather away while facing lack of humanitarian aid and a lack of sturdier temporary housing, which is badly required during the winter months. This marks the 3rd winter after the conflict between the state and Hamas started on 7 October 2023, when militants stormed into Israeli territory and murdered approximately 1,200 individuals and took hostage 251 others into Gaza.

Gaza’s health ministry reports more than 71,400 people have been fatally injured in Israel’s retaliatory offensive.