UPDATE 4 - Winter storm kills at least 14 in Gaza as floods cause collapse of bombed homes

UPDATES DEATH TOLL; ADDS DETAILS; REVISES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE

By Ramzi Mahmud, Mohammad Sio, and Rania Abu Shamala

GAZA CITY, Palestine/ISTANBUL (AA) - A powerful winter storm sweeping the Gaza Strip has killed at least 14 Palestinians, including children, since Wednesday as torrential rain, freezing temperatures, and strong winds triggered deadly collapses of bombed-out buildings, flooded displacement camps, and exposed families to extreme cold, according to official sources.

Gaza’s Interior Ministry said in a statement that “the death toll has risen to 14, including children and women, due to the effects of the low-pressure weather system and as a result of partial and total collapses of homes and buildings onto their residents because of the heavy rains.”

Several people remain missing under the rubble of a house that collapsed Friday in Gaza City’s al-Karama neighborhood after heavy rain, the ministry said, adding that emergency rooms received more than 4,300 distress calls from residents across the strip since Wednesday.

Civil Defense and police teams, supported by municipal workers, are continuing rescue operations “despite extremely limited capabilities and worn-out equipment,” the ministry said.

Later, Civil Defense said in a brief statement that rescue teams in the northern governorate recovered the bodies of six victims after a house belonging to the Badran family collapsed in the Bir Al-Naaja area.

- Tents destroyed, displacement worsens

Separately, the Gaza Media Office said at least 13 homes collapsed, most recently in Gaza City’s al-Karama and Sheikh Radwan neighborhoods, while Civil Defense teams continue to respond to hundreds of emergency calls.

The office said more than 27,000 displacement tents were flooded, swept away by torrents, or torn apart by strong winds, directly affecting over 250,000 displaced Palestinians whose shelters were destroyed or severely damaged by rain and runoff.

Gaza’s Civil Defense also reported that rescue teams in Gaza City recovered the body of a Palestinian killed when a house collapsed in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of the city, after heavy rain weakened the already damaged structure.

The agency’s spokesperson, Mahmoud Basal, told Anadolu that seven Palestinians were initially reported missing beneath the debris when the house collapsed.

In a separate incident, a security source told Anadolu that a building previously damaged by Israeli airstrikes collapsed in Gaza City’s al-Tuffah neighborhood due to heavy rainfall, without reported injuries.

Another war-damaged building also collapsed in the town of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza after the storm intensified. No casualties were reported in that incident.

With these latest cases, the number of buildings previously damaged by Israeli bombardment and later brought down by rain has risen to 16.

- 5 storm-related deaths previously reported

Friday’s developments add to the five deaths already confirmed across Gaza.

Earlier, local sources told Anadolu that three Palestinians were killed on Friday in separate incidents caused by storm-related structural collapses. Two brothers, Khader and Khalil Iyhab Hanouna, died when a wall collapsed onto their tent in central Gaza City under the weight of intense rainfall.

In northern Gaza, Civil Defense teams recovered the body of another Palestinian after a house collapsed in the Beit Lahia area of Jabalia, rescuing two injured children and continuing searches for possible additional victims trapped under the rubble.

Separately, two Palestinian children died from severe cold in their displacement shelters in different parts of Gaza City and were pronounced dead on arrival at Al-Shifa Hospital, according to medical sources.

The first victim, nine-year-old Hadeel Hamdan, had been sheltering with her family in a school converted into a displacement center, where families face harsh conditions and a lack of heating supplies.

The second child, an infant identified as Taym al-Khawaja, died from extreme cold while living with his family in the remains of their home, already damaged by Israeli strikes, in the Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City.

The two deaths brought the total number of children who have died from cold exposure since the storm began Wednesday to three after an infant girl, Rahaf Abu Jazar, died Thursday in Khan Younis after her family’s tent flooded with rainwater.

Three buildings also collapsed west of Gaza City on Thursday as heavy rain and flooding continued to hit the enclave.

About 250,000 families are currently living in displacement camps across the Gaza Strip, many facing cold weather and flooding inside fragile tents, according to the Civil Defense.

Although a ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, living conditions in Gaza have not improved, as Israel continues to impose strict restrictions on the entry of aid trucks, violating the humanitarian protocol of the agreement.

Israel has killed more than 70,000 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 171,000 others in attacks in Gaza since October 2023, which have continued despite the truce.