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Strong cold-season gusts brought walls down upon flimsy tents housing people uprooted by war in Gaza, claiming the lives of at least 4 people. These deaths underscores the dangerous living conditions that continue after more than two years of devastating bombardment and severe lack of aid.

Truce Provides Little Respite from Harsh Weather

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

Medical staff at Shifa hospital, which received the bodies, reported on this week that the deceased include a pair of adult females, a girl, and a man.

In a separate incident, the Gaza health ministry announced on Tuesday that a 12-month-old infant died of extreme cold overnight.

"International actors has enabled us to experience loss of life in every possible way," said Bassel Hamouda after the funeral. "While it is correct the bombing may have temporarily stopped, but we have seen every conceivable cause of death in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Relatives Crushed in Tent Collapse

As per Shifa hospital, 3 people of a one household — 72-year-old Mohamed Hamouda, his teenage relative, and his son's wife — were killed when an 26-foot high wall collapsed onto their dwelling in a coastal area of Gaza City. At least 5 others were injured in the event.

Their relatives on that day started removing the rubble that had buried their family and reconstructing the tent shelters for those who remained.

Humanitarian Efforts and Continuing Crisis

United Nations agencies and its humanitarian partners were distributing shelter kits, plastic sheeting, blankets and clothes as well as nutrition and sanitation items across Gaza, stated the relevant UN coordination body.

Most of Palestinians reside in makeshift shelters because their houses were reduced to ruins during the hostilities. Humanitarian organizations contend not enough shelter materials are reaching Gaza during the ceasefire.

Fatality Figures After the Truce

The Gaza health ministry, which is part of the administration, says more than 440 people have been fatally shot by Israeli fire and their bodies brought to hospitals since the truce began. The ministry keeps comprehensive casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts.

James Elder, spokesperson for the UN children’s agency Unicef, said on that day that no fewer than 100 minors under the age of 18 – sixty males and forty girls – had been lost their lives after the truce started due to armed actions, including drone strikes, airstrikes, artillery fire and employment of bullets. These numbers, he explained, represented incidents where sufficient details had been compiled to warrant documentation, but the overall count is expected to be greater. He noted that many hundreds of children had been wounded.

"While 'bombings and shootings have decreased' during the ceasefire, they have not stopped," Elder told journalists at a UN briefing in the Swiss city by video link from the Strip. "So what the international community now calls calm would be viewed as a crisis in any other place," he said.

Third Cold Season of Struggle

Gaza’s residents of more than 2 million individuals has been struggling to keep the freezing temperatures and storms away while facing lack of humanitarian aid and a lack of sturdier temporary housing, which is badly required throughout the winter months. This marks the 3rd cold season after the conflict involving Israel and Hamas started on a date in late 2023, when fighters stormed into Israeli territory and killed around 1,200 people and took hostage 251 more into Gaza.

The local health authority reports over seventy-one thousand four hundred Palestinians have been fatally injured in Israel’s retaliatory offensive.