Heavy Rains Flood More Than 70,000 Tents in Gaza as Winter Sets In
More than 70,000 tents in Gaza have been flooded since heavy rains began late on Friday, 6 November, according to Gaza's Government Media Office, as reported by Al Jazeera. The tents are the temporary shelters in which displaced Palestinians have been living. The rain swept across the territory, flooding shelters in areas including az-Zawayda in central Gaza.
Heavy rainfall on Saturday, 7 November, also flooded displacement camps in Gaza City, according to Reuters video reporting. Reuters separately reported that the rain flooded tents housing displaced people amid aid shortages. Al Jazeera said hundreds of thousands of displaced people are sheltering in locations considered highly vulnerable to further flooding.
The shelter crisis has deep roots in the ceasefire, an agreed halt to fighting, reached between Israel and Hamas. Al Jazeera reported that Israel has blocked the entry into Gaza of 60,000 mobile homes and 200,000 tents that were provided for under that agreement. According to the same report, only 20,000 tents have been allowed in, while mobile homes have remained parked on the Egyptian side of the border, many for more than two years.
For people like Jaber al-Kaseeh, the cost is personal. The man in his 70s, originally from Beit Lahiya, is spending his fourth winter in a tent in az-Zawayda, after being displaced several times since October 7, 2023, Al Jazeera reported. Al Jazeera also said this coming winter is the fourth in which displaced Palestinians in Gaza have faced without adequate shelter.
The UN's humanitarian office, OCHA, said in its 5 November situation report that heavy rainfall and flash floods, meaning sudden, fast-rising floods, had damaged shelters and belongings across Gaza. The same report said Israeli restrictions on the entry of engine oil and spare parts threaten essential water, sanitation and health services as winter approaches. It also said Israeli authorities demolished, or forced Palestinians to demolish, 31 Palestinian-owned structures, displacing 71 people, including 38 children.
Violence has also reached displacement sites. UN News reported on 4 November that gunfire hit and damaged multiple tents at a displacement site in Gaza's northern Rafah region.
