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Powerful winter gusts caused walls to collapse upon flimsy tents housing people displaced by war in Gaza, killing at least four individuals. This tragedy underscores the perilous living conditions that continue after over 24 months of intense bombardment and critical shortages of humanitarian assistance.

Ceasefire Provides No Relief from Severe Weather

Although a truce has been in effect since October, aid groups state that Palestinians do not have the adequate housing required to survive recurring winter storms.

Medical staff at Gaza City's largest medical facility, which received the victims, reported on this week that the dead were two women, a girl, and a man.

Separately, the local health authority stated on the same day that a 12-month-old infant died of extreme cold during the night.

"International actors has enabled us to witness loss of life in every possible way," stated Bassel Hamouda after 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

As per the medical center, 3 people of a single family — elderly Mohamed Hamouda, his teenage granddaughter, and his son's wife — were killed when an 26-foot tall wall fell onto their dwelling in a coastal area of Gaza City. No fewer than 5 additional people were hurt in the incident.

Family members on Tuesday started clearing the debris that had entombed their family and reconstructing the tent shelters for those who remained.

Humanitarian Efforts and Continuing Emergency

The UN and its aid organization allies were distributing tents, tarps, blankets and clothes as well as food and sanitation supplies throughout Gaza, said the relevant UN coordination body.

Most of Palestinians reside in makeshift shelters since their houses were reduced to ruins during the hostilities. Humanitarian organizations say an insufficient amount of building supplies are reaching Gaza under the truce.

Casualty Figures After the Truce

Local health authorities, which is part of the Hamas-run government, reports over 440 individuals have been fatally shot by Israeli fire and their bodies brought to hospitals since the ceasefire went into effect. The authority maintains comprehensive fatality data that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts.

A spokesperson for UNICEF, representing the UN children’s agency Unicef, stated on that day that at least 100 children below eighteen years old – sixty boys and forty girls – had been killed after the ceasefire started because of military operations, such as unmanned aerial vehicle attacks, air raids, tank shelling and use of live ammunition. Those figures, he said, represented incidents where sufficient information had been gathered to warrant recording, but the overall count is expected to be higher. He noted that hundreds of children had been wounded.

"Although 'bombings and gunfire have decreased' during the truce, they have not stopped," Elder informed journalists at a press conference in the Swiss city by video from the Strip. "Therefore what the international community now calls quiet would be considered a catastrophe in any other place," he said.

Another Cold Season of Struggle

Gaza’s residents of over 2 million people has been struggling to fend off the freezing temperatures and storms at bay while facing shortages of humanitarian aid and a absence of more substantial transitional shelter, which is badly required during the winter months. This marks the third cold season since the war between the state and the group began on a date in late 2023, when militants attacked southern Israel and murdered around 1,200 individuals and took hostage two hundred and fifty-one others into Gaza.

The local health authority reports more than 71,400 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive.