Winter Storms Take 5 Lives in the Gaza Strip Amid Dire Conditions in Makeshift Camps.

Powerful cold-season gusts caused walls to collapse onto fragile tents sheltering Palestinians uprooted by war in Gaza, claiming the lives of no fewer than four people. This tragedy underscores the dangerous situation that persist after over 24 months of devastating airstrikes and severe lack of aid.

Truce Offers No Respite from Severe Elements

While a truce has been in effect from last fall, humanitarian organizations report that Palestinians broadly lack the sufficient shelter required to survive recurring winter storms.

Medical staff at Gaza City's largest medical facility, which received the victims, said on Tuesday that the dead were two women, a young female, and a male adult.

In a separate incident, the local health authority stated on Tuesday that a one-year-old boy succumbed of hypothermia during the night.

"The world has enabled us to witness loss of life in all its forms," said Bassel Hamouda after the funeral. "It’s true the shelling may have paused for now, but we have seen every conceivable cause of fatality in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Relatives Buried in Shelter Collapse

According to the medical center, three people of a single family — 72-year-old Mohamed Hamouda, his 15-year-old relative, and his son's wife — were fatally injured when an 26-foot high wall fell onto their tent in a coastal area of Gaza City. At least 5 others were injured in the event.

Their relatives on that day began removing the rubble that had entombed their loved ones and rebuilding the tent shelters for those who remained.

Aid Distribution and Continuing Emergency

The UN and its aid organization allies were handing out tents, plastic sheeting, warm covers and clothing as well as nutrition and hygiene supplies throughout Gaza, stated the relevant UN coordination body.

The majority of the population reside in makeshift tents since their homes were turned into ruins during the war. Aid groups say not enough building supplies are entering Gaza under the ceasefire.

Casualty Numbers After the Ceasefire

The Gaza health ministry, which is part of the administration, says over 440 individuals have been killed by gunfire and their remains brought to hospitals since the ceasefire began. The ministry maintains detailed fatality data that are seen as largely accurate by UN agencies and independent experts.

James Elder, spokesperson for the UN children's fund, said on Tuesday that at least 100 children under the age of 18 – sixty boys and forty girls – had been lost their lives after the ceasefire started due to armed actions, including unmanned aerial vehicle attacks, air raids, tank shelling and employment of bullets. These numbers, he said, represented incidents where enough information had been compiled to warrant documentation, but the total toll is believed to be greater. He added that hundreds of children had been injured.

"While 'explosions and shootings have slowed' during the truce, they have not ceased," the spokesperson informed journalists at a press conference in the Swiss city by video link from the Strip. "So what the international community now calls quiet would be viewed as a crisis anywhere else," he concluded.

Third Cold Season of Struggle

Gaza’s residents of over 2 million people has been fighting to keep the freezing temperatures and storms at bay while enduring lack of humanitarian aid and a lack of more substantial temporary housing, which is badly needed throughout the colder season. This marks the 3rd cold season since the war between Israel and Hamas began on a date in late 2023, when fighters stormed into Israeli territory and killed around twelve hundred people and abducted 251 more into Gaza.

The local health authority reports more than 71,400 people have been fatally injured in the subsequent retaliatory offensive.