Torrential rains in Gaza have caused a sand embankment to collapse onto tents, resulting in the deaths of a woman and three young children. The incident underscores the perilous conditions faced by hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians as the winter season intensifies.
Medical officials reported that heavy rainfall late on Sunday led to the erosion of a rocky sand bank adjacent to a camp for displaced families situated south of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. The collapse tragically killed a woman and two of her children, aged eight and six. A fourth child, aged four, also perished, and six other individuals sustained injuries.
Video footage, which Reuters could not independently verify, emerged showing residents attempting to clear large rocks and excavate sand with shovels. The retrieved bodies, wrapped in blankets and stained with blood, were later seen being pulled from the debris. A relative of the victims, Amal Al-Zein, 35, lamented the dire situation, stating, "Whoever did not die from bombs and missiles is dying from buildings collapsing on them, from the collapse of sand and mountains on them."
Witnesses described the sound of the embankment's collapse as resembling an explosion. Sohaib Abu Darbali recounted, "We found that three tents were covered completely after the mountain collapsed on top of them. People were under the rubble and we couldn't see them."
The majority of Gaza's two million inhabitants reside in tent encampments or the remnants of destroyed buildings, with reconstruction efforts yet to commence following extensive military operations. Many are facing their fourth winter where their shelters are vulnerable to flooding and damage from inclement weather. Local authorities indicated that at least 70,000 tents were flooded in the initial hours of heavy rain that began on Saturday. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has reported that humanitarian partners have received appeals from over 26,000 households experiencing shelter or property damage due to recent rainstorms.
Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for Gaza's civil defence service, noted that residents had erected tents near sand banks, believing them to offer protection. He emphasized, "Tents can't protect people, neither from rain nor of the heat, the only solution is reconstruction." Reconstruction efforts remain contingent on security agreements, with progress stalled by disagreements over Hamas's disarmament and Israel's troop withdrawal from the territory.
