Harsh winter in Gaza deepens suffering

Gaza has been affected since Saturday by a polar low-pressure system – the third of the winter season – bringing heavy rain and strong winds.

Gaza has been struggling to survive harsh weather in recent months, as two previous weather depressions caused the deaths of 17 Palestinians, including four children, due to the collapse of already damaged buildings in Israeli bombardment and the flooding and uprooting of tens of thousands of displacement tents.

Weather conditions pose great danger to displaced Palestinians who are living in worn-out tents or severely damaged high-risk buildings, which have been under repeated Israeli strikes since October 2023.

“More rain. More human misery, despair and death,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on the US social media company X.

Gazans “are surviving in flimsy, waterlogged tents and among ruins,” he said, warning that aid supplies “are not being allowed in at the scale required.”

UNRWA “could multiply these efforts tomorrow if aid flowed in,” Lazzarini said.

Separately, the Palestinian government said Gaza needs about 200,000 prefabricated housing units to meet urgent humanitarian needs for displaced people amid severe weather conditions.