Heavy winter rains swept across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, inundating displacement camps and sinking thousands of tents that house families already uprooted by Israel’s ongoing assault.
The flooding struck camps in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood, Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, and Khan Younis in the south, leaving children and the elderly wading through contaminated water with no safe shelter.
Among the hardest-hit sites was Abu Marhil displacement camp, an informal tented site in the Zeitoun area of Gaza City.
Established during the genocide to shelter families forced from their homes, the camp was submerged by floodwaters, forcing residents to abandon their tents as water levels rose rapidly.
Scenes from the camp showed children standing ankle-deep in muddy water, while families dug drainage ditches and used buckets in desperate attempts to divert the flooding.
Civil defense officials warned of an imminent humanitarian disaster, noting that Gaza’s stormwater drainage systems and wastewater networks have been destroyed or severely damaged by two years of bombardment.
Floodwater mixed with raw sewage and accumulated waste raises the risk of outbreaks of diseases such as dysentery, cholera, and scabies.
The Gaza Government Media Office had cautioned earlier this week that a polar low-pressure system, named Storm Byron, would affect the enclave from Wednesday through Friday evening. Meteorologists forecast three days of thunderstorms, hail, and intense winds reaching 50 kilometers per hour, with temperatures dropping sharply.
Local officials estimate that nearly 850,000 displaced Palestinians sheltering in more than 760 sites face the highest risk of flooding.
Aid agencies say Gaza requires at least 300,000 tents and prefabricated housing units to meet basic shelter needs, but Israel continues to block the entry of essential materials such as tent poles, timber, and construction tools.
Humanitarian groups warned that no child should be left freezing in sewage-soaked bedding, urging immediate international action to allow shelter supplies into Gaza.
In Khan Younis’s Mawasi area, intense winds blew away tents, leaving families sheltering under plastic sheets and fabric scraps.
In Gaza City, several roads were cut off by rising water levels, further isolating displacement camps. Civil defense crews said they fielded more than a thousand weather-related calls since dawn, but their ability to respond remains crippled by fuel shortages, destroyed equipment, and repeated attacks on rescue teams.
Humanitarian agencies stress that the combination of war damage, aid restrictions, and severe weather has created conditions, where displaced Palestinians are left with no place to go. As one resident in Zeitoun said: “We no longer love the rain, because we fear drowning.”
The spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that cold weather and heavy rains in Gaza are exposing the most vulnerable groups—particularly newborn children—to grave risks.
In a separate statement regarding Lebanon, the deputy spokesperson stressed that attacks on UN peacekeeping forces or in their vicinity constitute serious violations of Security Council Resolution 1701.
He urged the Israeli army to cease aggressive behavior and refrain from targeting peacekeepers or operating near their positions.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Civil Defense reported that more than 250,000 displaced families living in camps across the Strip are enduring harsh cold and flooding rains inside worn-out tents, further compounding the humanitarian crisis.
The flooding comes as Gaza’s humanitarian crisis reaches unprecedented levels. More than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 171,000 injured since October 7, 2023, with hundreds of thousands displaced multiple times.
Families who survived bombardments now face freezing temperatures, contaminated floodwaters, and the collapse of already fragile shelters.
