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Strong winter winds caused walls to collapse upon fragile shelters sheltering Palestinians displaced by war in Gaza, claiming the lives of at least four people. These deaths underscores the dangerous situation that persist after over two years of intense airstrikes and severe lack of aid.

Truce Offers Little Respite from Harsh Elements

Although a ceasefire has been in effect from October, humanitarian organizations state that residents do not have the adequate shelter required to survive recurring winter storms.

Officials at Shifa hospital, which took in the victims, reported on this week that the dead were a pair of adult females, a girl, and a man.

In a separate incident, the local health authority announced on Tuesday that a one-year-old boy died of extreme cold overnight.

"The world has enabled us to witness loss of life in every possible way," said Bassel Hamouda after the burial. "While it is correct the bombing may have temporarily stopped, but we have seen every conceivable cause of death in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Relatives Buried in Tent Collapse

According to Shifa hospital, three people of a single household — 72-year-old a man, his 15-year-old granddaughter, and his son's wife — were fatally injured when an 26-foot high wall collapsed on top of their dwelling in a area near the sea of Gaza City. No fewer than 5 others were hurt in the incident.

Family members on that day began removing the debris that had buried their family and reconstructing the temporary homes for those who remained.

Humanitarian Distribution and Ongoing Crisis

The UN and its humanitarian partners were distributing shelter kits, plastic sheeting, blankets and clothes as well as nutrition and hygiene supplies across Gaza, said the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs.

Most of Palestinians live in improvised tents since their houses were turned into ruins during the war. Humanitarian organizations contend not enough shelter materials are reaching Gaza under the truce.

Fatality Numbers Since the Truce

Local health authorities, part of the Hamas-run government, says over 440 people have been fatally shot by gunfire and their bodies brought to hospitals since the ceasefire began. The ministry keeps detailed fatality records that are considered generally reliable by international bodies and independent experts.

James Elder, representing the UN children’s agency Unicef, said on that day that at least one hundred minors below eighteen years old – 60 boys and forty females – had been lost their lives since the ceasefire began because of military operations, such as unmanned aerial vehicle attacks, air raids, artillery fire and employment of live ammunition. Those figures, he said, represented incidents where enough information had been compiled to justify recording, but the total toll is believed to be greater. He noted that many hundreds of minors had been injured.

"While 'explosions and shootings have slowed' under the ceasefire, they have not stopped," Elder informed journalists at a press conference in Geneva by video link from the Strip. "Therefore what the world now terms quiet would be considered a catastrophe anywhere else," he said.

Third Winter of Hardship

Gaza’s population of more than two million people has been fighting to keep the freezing temperatures and bad weather at bay while facing shortages of assistance and a lack of sturdier temporary housing, which is urgently required throughout the colder season. This marks the third winter since the conflict involving the state and the group started on 7 October 2023, when fighters attacked southern Israel and murdered approximately 1,200 people and took hostage two hundred and fifty-one more into Gaza.

Gaza’s health ministry says over seventy-one thousand four hundred people have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive.