Displaced people, including children and pregnant women, are trying to salvage what they can of their belongings before they are ruined by the water and mud. This scene is repeated throughout the Gaza Strip, where any open space free of destroyed buildings is crowded with tents pitched on sandy ground that has turned into pools of water by the rains.
For the second day, the Palestinian territories are affected by a low-pressure system accompanied by a cold air mass, rain and wind, with Palestinian meteorological data indicating that it will subside on Sunday evening.
The Palestinians, numbering around 1.5 million according to estimates by the Government Media Office, are suffering from tragic humanitarian conditions, as a result of the lack of basic necessities, difficulty in obtaining essential supplies, and shortages of vital services due to the continued Israeli blockade.
The government estimated at the end of last September that about 93% of the tents were no longer habitable, amounting to 125,000 tents out of 135,000, while tens of thousands of tents were damaged by direct Israeli bombing or bombing in the surrounding area, and were worn out by the high heat in the summer and the rain and wind in the winter.
Children and pregnant women without the most basic necessities of life
In distressing scenes, children are seen trying to save their belongings from drowning, including a child no older than ten years old walking barefoot, carrying some of his clothes in his arms, while his feet are covered in rainwater and mud.
In another tent in the Al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis, Maryam Aslih, who was nine months pregnant, faced great difficulty in protecting her children from the cold and wetness. Attempts to remove the water from the tent and dig drainage channels to drain it were unsuccessful, leaving the bodies of the children and women shivering and hearts crying over the loss of the minimum necessities of life.
The Civil Defense confirmed in a statement on Saturday that it was continuing to deal with dozens of flooded tents in displaced persons camps, while the government media office indicated on Friday that the suffering of citizens is greatly exacerbated with the onset of winter, stressing the need to provide at least 250,000 tents and 100,000 caravans as temporary shelter until reconstruction is completed.
Israel continues to prevent the entry of shelter materials such as tents and mobile homes, ignoring its obligations under the ceasefire agreement that came into effect on October 10, which ended a two-year war of genocide that left more than 69,000 Palestinian martyrs and more than 170,000 wounded, and caused massive destruction affecting 90% of the civilian infrastructure, with initial losses estimated at about $70 billion.