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Powerful winter gusts caused walls to collapse onto fragile tents sheltering Palestinians uprooted by conflict in Gaza, claiming the lives of no fewer than 4 individuals. This tragedy underscores the perilous situation that continue after more than 24 months of devastating bombardment and critical lack of humanitarian assistance.

Truce Offers Little Respite from Harsh Weather

While a ceasefire has been active since last fall, aid groups state that Palestinians do not have the sufficient shelter required to survive recurring cold-weather events.

Medical staff at Shifa hospital, which received the bodies, said on this week that the dead were two women, a young female, and a male adult.

Separately, the Gaza health ministry announced on Tuesday that a 12-month-old infant succumbed of hypothermia during the night.

"International actors has allowed us to experience death in all its forms," stated a family member following the burial. "While it is correct the bombing may have paused for now, but we have seen all imaginable reasons of death in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Relatives Buried in Shelter Collapse

According to Shifa hospital, 3 members of a one household — elderly Mohamed Hamouda, his 15-year-old granddaughter, and his son's wife — were killed when an eight-metre tall wall fell onto their tent in a coastal area of Gaza City. No fewer than 5 additional people were hurt in the event.

Family members on Tuesday started removing the debris that had buried their loved ones and reconstructing the temporary homes for those who remained.

Humanitarian Efforts and Ongoing Crisis

The UN and its aid organization allies were handing out shelter kits, tarps, blankets and clothing as well as food and sanitation supplies throughout Gaza, said the relevant UN coordination body.

The majority of Palestinians reside in makeshift shelters because their houses were turned into rubble during the hostilities. Humanitarian organizations say an insufficient amount of shelter materials are entering Gaza under the ceasefire.

Casualty Figures Since the Ceasefire

Local health authorities, part of the administration, reports over four hundred and forty individuals have been killed by Israeli fire and their bodies taken to hospitals after the ceasefire went into effect. The authority maintains comprehensive fatality records that are considered generally reliable by international bodies and outside analysts.

A spokesperson for UNICEF, spokesperson for the UN children's fund, stated on that day that no fewer than 100 minors below eighteen years old – 60 boys and forty females – had been lost their lives since the ceasefire began due to armed actions, including unmanned aerial vehicle attacks, airstrikes, artillery fire and employment of bullets. These numbers, he explained, reflected incidents where enough information had been compiled to warrant documentation, but the overall count is expected to be greater. He noted that hundreds of minors had been injured.

"Although 'explosions and shootings have decreased' during the truce, they have not stopped," the spokesperson told journalists at a press conference in Geneva by video link from the Strip. "Therefore what the world now terms quiet would be viewed as a crisis anywhere else," he said.

Third Winter of Struggle

Gaza’s population of more than two million people has been fighting to keep the cold weather and bad weather at bay while enduring shortages of humanitarian aid and a lack of more substantial temporary housing, which is urgently needed during the winter months. It’s the 3rd cold season since the conflict involving the state and Hamas started on 7 October 2023, when militants attacked Israeli territory and murdered around twelve hundred individuals and abducted 251 more into Gaza.

Gaza’s health ministry says over 71,400 Palestinians have been killed in the subsequent military campaign.