KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Heavy rains battered the Gaza Strip over the weekend, flooding makeshift camps with ankle-deep puddles as Palestinians displaced by two years of war tried to stay dry in tents worn by months of use.
Blankets and mattresses in tents at the Khan Younis camp were soaked in mud and water, and flimsy shelters were propped up with old wood. Children, wearing flip-flops and lightweight clothing inappropriate for winter, waded through icy puddles and dirt roads turned into rivers. Some people used shovels to try to push the water out of their tents.
Rain with nowhere to escape
“We drowned last night,” said Majdoleen Tarabein, a displaced woman from Rafah in southern Gaza. “Puddles formed and there was a bad smell. The tent flew away. We didn’t know what to do or where to go.”
She showed blankets and the remaining contents of the tent, completely soaked and covered in mud, as she and her family tried to wring them dry with their hands.
“When we woke up in the morning, we found that water had entered the tent,” said Eman Abu Riziq, also displaced in Khan Younis, pointing to a puddle outside. “These are mattresses – they’re completely soaked. My girls’ belongings are soaked through. Water is seeping in here and there,” she said, pointing to the ceiling and corners of the tent. Her family is still reeling from the recent death of her husband and the constant struggle to stay dry in the winter rain.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, which is affiliated with the Hamas government, at least 12 people, including a two-week-old baby, have died since December 13 due to hypothermia or the collapse of war-damaged homes due to weather conditions.
Emergency workers warned people not to stay in damaged buildings as they could collapse at any time. But much of the area was in ruins, with few places to shelter from the rain. In July, the United Nations Satellite Center estimated that nearly 80% of buildings in Gaza had been destroyed or damaged.
According to the Health Ministry, 414 people have been killed and 1,142 injured in Gaza since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect on October 11. The total number of Palestinian war-related deaths has risen to at least 71,266. The ministry does not distinguish between militants and civilians in its statistics, has medical professionals on staff and keeps detailed records that are generally considered reliable by the international community.
Gaza urgently needs more shelters as aid falls short
An Associated Press analysis of Israeli military data shows that aid deliveries to Gaza are far below what was required under a U.S.-brokered ceasefire. The Israeli military agency responsible for humanitarian aid said last week that 4,200 trucks full of humanitarian aid were entering Gaza, along with eight garbage trucks to assist with clean-up, as well as tents and cold-weather clothing as part of anti-freeze efforts. But it declined to elaborate on the number of tents. Humanitarian aid groups say demand far exceeds the number of tents that have been entered.
According to the Shelter Cluster, an international alliance of aid providers led by the Norwegian Refugee Council, some 72,000 tents and 403,000 tarps have been moved in since the ceasefire began.
“Harsh winter weather has compounded more than two years of suffering. The people of Gaza are surviving in flimsy, waterlogged tents and ruins. This was not inevitable. Aid is not arriving at the scale needed,” Philippe Lazzarini, the chief commissioner of the top U.N. organization that oversees aid to Gaza, wrote on X.
Netanyahu heads to Washington to negotiate second phase of ceasefire
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Washington to meet with US President Donald Trump in Florida to discuss the second phase of the ceasefire. Netanyahu is expected to meet Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Monday.
Although the ceasefire has largely held for the past 2.5 months, progress has slowed. Israel says it refuses to enter the next phase of the ceasefire, while the remains of the last hostage killed in the attack that sparked the war on October 7, 2023, remain in Gaza. Challenges in the next phase of the ceasefire include the deployment of international stabilization forces, a technocratic governing body in Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas and further Israeli troop withdrawals from the territory.
Israel and Hamas have both accused each other of violating the truce.
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Abu Aljod reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.
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For more AP Israel-Hamas coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.
