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Strong cold-season gusts caused walls to collapse upon flimsy tents sheltering Palestinians uprooted by conflict in Gaza, claiming the lives of at least four individuals. This tragedy highlights the perilous living conditions that continue after more than two years of intense bombardment and severe lack of humanitarian assistance.

Ceasefire Provides Little Respite from Severe Weather

Although a ceasefire has been in effect since October, humanitarian organizations state that Palestinians do not have the sufficient housing necessary to survive frequent cold-weather events.

Officials at Gaza City's largest medical facility, which received the bodies, said on this week that the deceased include a pair of adult females, a young female, and a male adult.

In a separate incident, the local health authority announced on the same day that a one-year-old boy succumbed of extreme cold during the night.

"International actors has allowed us to witness loss of life in every possible way," stated Bassel Hamouda after the burial. "While it is correct the shelling may have temporarily stopped, but we have seen every conceivable cause of fatality in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Family Buried in Shelter Collapse

According to the medical center, three members of a one household — elderly a man, his 15-year-old granddaughter, and his daughter-in-law — were killed when an eight-metre tall wall collapsed onto their tent in a area near the sea of Gaza City. At least 5 others were injured in the incident.

Their relatives on Tuesday began removing the rubble that had buried their loved ones and rebuilding the tent shelters for those who remained.

Aid Distribution and Ongoing Emergency

United Nations agencies and its aid organization allies were distributing tents, tarps, warm covers and clothing as well as nutrition and hygiene supplies throughout Gaza, said the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs.

Most of Palestinians reside in makeshift shelters because their houses were reduced to ruins during the hostilities. Aid groups contend an insufficient amount of building supplies are entering Gaza under the ceasefire.

Fatality Figures Since the Ceasefire

The Gaza health ministry, which is part of the administration, reports more than 440 people have been killed by Israeli fire and their remains taken to hospitals since the truce began. The authority maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as largely accurate by UN agencies and independent experts.

James Elder, representing the UN children’s agency Unicef, said on Tuesday that no fewer than 100 children below eighteen years old – 60 boys and forty girls – had been killed since the truce began due to armed actions, such as unmanned aerial vehicle attacks, airstrikes, tank shelling and employment of bullets. Those figures, he explained, represented cases where enough details had been gathered to justify recording, but the overall count is expected to be higher. He noted that hundreds of minors had been wounded.

"While 'bombings and shootings have decreased' during the ceasefire, they have not stopped," the spokesperson told reporters at a press conference in the Swiss city by video from Gaza City. "Therefore what the world now calls quiet would be viewed as a catastrophe in any other place," he concluded.

Another Cold Season of Struggle

Gaza’s population of over two million people has been fighting to fend off the freezing temperatures and bad weather away while enduring lack of humanitarian aid and a absence of sturdier temporary housing, which is urgently needed throughout the colder season. It’s the third winter after the war involving Israel and Hamas started on a date in late 2023, when militants stormed into southern Israel and killed around 1,200 individuals and abducted 251 others into Gaza.

The local health authority reports more than 71,400 people have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive.