Thousands of flood-prone tents and makeshift shelters now line areas cleared of rubble in Gaza. Photo: AFP
GAZA CITY:
Gaza’s civil defense agency said on Friday that at least 13 people had died in the past 24 hours, including three children who died from exposure to the cold, as a winter storm battered the area.
Heavy rainfall from Storm Byron has flooded tents and makeshift shelters across the Gaza Strip since late Wednesday, compounding the plight of the area’s residents, nearly all of whom have been displaced during more than two years of war.
Gaza’s civil defense agency, which acts as a rescue force under Hamas’ rule, told AFP that three children had died from exposure to the cold — two in Gaza City and one in Khan Younis in the south.
Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City confirmed the deaths of Hadeel al-Masri, nine, and Taim al-Khawaja, who it said was only several months old.
Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis on Thursday reported that eight-month-old Rahaf Abu Jazar died in the nearby Al-Mawasi camp due to the cold.
With most of Gaza’s buildings destroyed or damaged, thousands of tents and makeshift shelters now line areas cleared of rubble.
Civil defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal said six people were killed when a house collapsed in the Bir al-Najah area of the northern Gaza Strip.
Four others died when walls collapsed in several separate incidents, he said.
In a statement, the civil defense said its teams responded to calls from “13 houses that collapsed due to heavy rainfall and strong winds, mainly in Gaza City and the north.”
No dry clothes
Under dark skies in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, Palestinians used bowls, buckets and hoes to try to remove water that had pooled around their plastic sheet tents.
Small children, some barefoot and some wearing open sandals, pulled and jumped through puddles of muddy water as the rain continued to fall.
“The mattress was wet from this morning and the children slept on wet beds last night,” Umm Muhammad Joudah told AFP.
“We don’t have dry clothes to change into.”
Saif Ayman, a 17-year-old wearing crutches due to a leg injury, said his tent had also been submerged.
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