Al-Thawabta said: "The low-pressure system that hit the sector on Tuesday evening caused damage to more than 22,000 tents for displaced people and losses estimated at about $3.5 million, after it flooded large areas of the camps and turned them into areas unfit for shelter."
He noted that primitive sewage networks were damaged, and that schools used as displacement centers experienced flooded corridors and disruptions to temporary water networks.
Thawabta stressed that the food sector "suffered extensive losses," with large quantities of food being damaged and aid intended for distribution being lost.
He pointed out that more than 10 mobile medical points were out of service and that medicines and essential supplies were lost due to the difficulty of movement in the flooded areas.
He explained that the storm also caused the washing away and destruction of alternative energy and lighting equipment inside the camps, including solar panels that displaced people rely on to secure their basic needs amid the power outage.
Al-Thawabta said that "the worsening of the disaster is mainly due to the Israeli occupation preventing the entry of tents, insulation materials, heating, energy and sanitation."
The continued ban was considered "a clear violation of the humanitarian obligations stipulated in the ceasefire agreement and a violation of international humanitarian law."
He pointed out that more than 288,000 families are now without effective protection against the cold and rain, despite the government's repeated demands to provide 300,000 tents and mobile homes, but the international response has remained "very limited and not commensurate with the scale of the disaster."
Thawabta called on US President Donald Trump and the guarantors of the ceasefire agreement to "take immediate action to compel the occupation to lift restrictions on the entry of shelter, heating, energy, water and sanitation materials."
He warned that the continuation of the Israeli ban "will increase human suffering to levels that are difficult to contain."
"Gaza's displaced people struggle to find shelter"
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said on Wednesday that thousands of forcibly displaced people in the Gaza Strip are struggling to find safe shelter in preparation for approaching cold weather, amid the repercussions of the two-year war of extermination waged by Israel on the Strip.
The agency explained, in a post on the platform of the American company "X", that "thousands of forcibly displaced people in the Gaza Strip are struggling to find safe shelter in preparation for the coming cold weather."
She added that "the displaced have no choice but to set up primitive tents," noting that "more shelter materials are still needed."
She pointed out that more than 79,000 displaced people are living in 85 UNRWA-run shelters in the Gaza Strip, amid increasingly dire humanitarian conditions as winter approaches.
The spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, Stephane Dujarric, warned on Tuesday that displaced Palestinian families in Gaza are at risk of flooding inside poor shelters, stressing that the population is "extremely vulnerable" in light of the bad weather, and that ongoing Israeli restrictions are hindering the entry of vital aid and obstructing the work of relief organizations, including UN partners.
In previous statements, Hamas and the Gaza Government Media Office confirmed that the agreement stipulated opening the crossings and allowing the entry of shelter materials such as tents and mobile homes, but Israel is refusing to fulfill this.
A low-pressure system accompanied by heavy rains on Tuesday caused dozens of tents of displaced people to flood in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Yunis city in the southern Gaza Strip, amid warnings of a humanitarian disaster.
It is noted that the Gaza Strip needs about 300,000 tents and prefabricated housing units to meet the most basic shelter needs of its residents, after Israel destroyed the infrastructure during two years of annihilation.
The United Nations estimates the cost of rebuilding Gaza at about $70 billion, as a result of the repercussions of two years of Israeli war of extermination with American support, which led to the martyrdom of more than 69,000 Palestinians and the injury of about 171,000.
Hamas and Israel reached a ceasefire agreement brokered by Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and with US sponsorship, and its first phase went into effect on October 10th.
