UPDATE - Storm kills 4, injures several others as damaged buildings collapse in Gaza

UPDATE WITH DETAILS, ADDS TO DECK

Mustafa M. M. Haboush and Lina Altawell

GAZA, Palestine / ISTANBUL (AA) - Four Palestinians have been killed since Monday night after buildings damaged by Israeli airstrikes collapsed in Gaza as a powerful storm battered the enclave, Palestinian civil defense said on Tuesday.

The buildings collapsed due to heavy rainfall and strong winds driven by a low-pressure weather system that began affecting the region Monday evening.

The victims included an elderly man, a child, and two women. Several others were injured in separate incidents involving the collapse of cracked homes and unstable structures in Gaza City as winds intensified overnight.

The storm has worsened conditions for hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians living in tents across the Gaza Strip, where strong winds and heavy rain since the night hours have flooded, torn apart, and uprooted thousands of makeshift shelters, particularly along the coast, eyewitnesses said.

In central Gaza, thousands of displaced people in the Nuseirat refugee camp sought refuge in mosques and partially damaged buildings after their tents collapsed or were severely damaged by the storm, witnesses told Anadolu.

Gaza’s government media office said that 127,000 of the 135,000 tents sheltering displaced Palestinians are no longer fit for habitation as a severe polar cold grips the Gaza Strip.

Media office director Ismail Al-Thawabteh said the weather system, which began Monday evening, has exposed critical shortages of shelter, blankets and heating, particularly among families living in worn-out tents and in remote areas.

He said the shortage of blankets and heating supplies exceeds 70% across Gaza, adding that displaced families face freezing temperatures without adequate protection from rain, moisture and cold ground.

The Palestinian group Hamas said the continued deaths of children and the elderly due to cold weather and collapsing homes show that “Gaza is still experiencing the most severe forms of genocide,” criticizing the international community for failing to deliver aid despite repeated appeals.

The Israeli army has killed more than 71,400 people, most of them women and children, and injured over 171,000 others in a brutal offensive since October 2023 that has left the Gaza Strip in ruins.

Despite a ceasefire that began on Oct. 10, 2025, the Israeli army has continued its attacks, killing 442 Palestinians and wounding over 1,200 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.