Heavy winter rains have unleashed new suffering across Gaza, where displaced families living in makeshift tents now are facing flooding, freezing temperatures, the threat of waterborne diseases, and severe shortages of life-saving aid supplies, despite a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
In Gaza City's Shujayea neighborhood, a sudden downpour turned a camp for displaced people into a waterlogged trap. Soaked mattresses and blankets lay ruined inside flooded tents, leaving hundreds of families with nowhere dry enough to sleep or shelter from the cold.
Although the truce has halted fighting, reconstruction remains slow, and many families are still barred from returning to homes in areas still controlled by the Israeli military. With little more than scraps salvaged from rubble to reinforce their tents, displaced residents lack winter clothing, blankets, and ways to keep warm.
"We were flooded. No one knows how we survived. My family had to flee here temporarily. The tent is torn and rainwater keeps seeping in. We are so crushed by day-to-day living that sometimes we even wish death could come to us before a greater catastrophe did. We want to live, but every day feels like dying a hundred times," said displaced Palestinian Zaher Al-Ajla.
"Rainwater kept rushing in from both the roof and the ground -- we were completely swamped. We have no mattress, no blanket; we are all drenched. We stayed awake all night because it was simply impossible to fall asleep. This is already the third consecutive winter we've had to try everything to keep our children warm. But there's truly nothing I can do," said Khalil Bahar, another resident.
Heavy winter rains worsen humanitarian crisis in war-ravaged Gaza
