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Strong winter gusts caused walls to collapse onto fragile shelters sheltering Palestinians uprooted by war in Gaza, claiming the lives of at least four people. This tragedy underscores the perilous situation that continue after over 24 months of intense airstrikes and severe shortages of aid.

Ceasefire Offers Little Respite from Harsh Weather

Although a truce has been active since last fall, aid groups report that residents broadly lack the sufficient shelter required to withstand recurring winter storms.

Medical staff at Gaza City's largest medical facility, which took in the victims, said on Tuesday that the dead include two women, a girl, and a man.

Separately, the Gaza health ministry stated on the same day that a one-year-old boy died of extreme cold overnight.

"International actors has allowed us to experience death in every possible way," stated Bassel Hamouda following the funeral. "While it is correct the bombing may have paused for now, but we have seen all imaginable reasons of death in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Family Crushed in Shelter Collapse

According to Shifa hospital, 3 people of a one family — elderly Mohamed Hamouda, his 15-year-old granddaughter, and his daughter-in-law — were fatally injured when an eight-metre high wall fell onto their tent in a coastal area of Gaza City. At least five additional people were injured in the event.

Family members on that day began removing the rubble that had buried their loved ones and rebuilding the temporary homes for survivors.

Aid Distribution and Ongoing Crisis

United Nations agencies and its aid organization allies were distributing shelter kits, tarps, blankets and clothing as well as food and hygiene supplies throughout Gaza, said the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs.

The majority of Palestinians reside in makeshift shelters since their houses were turned into ruins during the war. Aid groups say not enough building supplies are reaching Gaza under the truce.

Fatality Numbers After the Ceasefire

Local health authorities, which is part of the administration, reports more than 440 people have been killed by gunfire and their remains taken to hospitals after the truce went into effect. The ministry maintains comprehensive casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts.

James Elder, spokesperson for the UN children’s agency Unicef, said on that day that no fewer than one hundred children under the age of 18 – sixty males and forty girls – had been lost their lives after the ceasefire began due to military operations, such as drone strikes, air raids, tank shelling and use of bullets. Those figures, he explained, reflected incidents where sufficient information had been gathered to warrant documentation, but the total toll is expected to be greater. He noted that many hundreds of children had been wounded.

"While 'bombings and gunfire have decreased' under the truce, they have not stopped," Elder informed reporters at a press conference in the Swiss city by video link from Gaza City. "Therefore what the international community now calls calm would be considered a crisis in any other place," he concluded.

Another Winter of Hardship

Gaza’s population of more than 2 million people has been struggling to fend off the freezing temperatures and bad weather at bay while enduring shortages of assistance and a absence of sturdier temporary housing, which is urgently needed throughout the winter months. It’s the third winter since the war involving Israel and the group began on 7 October 2023, when fighters attacked southern Israel and killed around twelve hundred individuals and took hostage two hundred and fifty-one more into Gaza.

Gaza’s health ministry says over 71,400 people have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive.