War-ravaged Gaza getting battered by winter storms

RAINS drenched Gaza's tent camps and dropping temperatures chilled Palestinians huddling inside yesterday as Storm Byron descended on the war-battered territory.

- BY WAFAA SHURAFA, BASSEM MROUE and JULIA FRANKEL

It has highlighted how two months of a ceasefire have failed to sufficiently address the spiralling humanitarian crisis there.

Children's sandalled feet disappeared under opaque brown water that flooded the camps. Trucks moved slowly to avoid sending waves of mud toward the tents. Piles of rubbish and sewage turned to waterfalls.

"We have been drowned. I don't have clothes to wear and we have no mattresses left," said Um Salman Abu Qenas, a mother displaced from east of Khan Younis to a tent camp in Deir al-Balah. She said her family could not sleep the night before because of the water in the tent.

Aid groups say not enough shelter aid is getting into Gaza during the truce. Figures recently released by Israel's military suggest it has not met the ceasefire stipulation of allowing 600 trucks of aid into Gaza a day, though Israel disputes that finding.

SHELTER

"Cold, overcrowded and unsanitary environments heighten the risk of illness and infection," said the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, in a terse statement posted on X. "This suffering could be prevented by unhindered humanitarian aid, including medical support and proper shelter."