Shafaq News- Gaza

At least 70,000 tents sheltering Palestinians across the Gaza Strip were flooded within 12 hours as the territory experienced its first winter storm of the season, Gaza's Government Media Office said.

Heavy rain that began on Saturday inundated makeshift shelters, washing away tents and soaking blankets and mattresses belonging to families displaced by Israel's war on the enclave, which began in October 2023.

The Government Media Office put preliminary losses at around $3 million. It documented dozens of wall collapses across the Strip that caused injuries, while structurally damaged buildings at risk of collapse presented an additional danger. Local authorities confirmed injuries but recorded no fatalities.

The Office assigned Israel full responsibility for the disaster, citing the continued closure of border crossings and restrictions on the entry of shelter supplies and reconstruction materials. It also urged the international community and United Nations (UN) agencies to intervene immediately to protect displaced Palestinians.

Scenes from Al-Mawasi in Khan Younis, Deir al-Balah and Gaza City show heavy rainfall submerging roads and flooding displacement tents, as displaced Palestinians plead for help and adequate shelter to protect their families. Three years of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip have devastated its infrastructure, destroying roads, drainage networks and essential services. This widespread destruction has left Gaza dangerously ill-equipped to withstand severe weather, exposing already displaced Palestinians to further hardship and life-threatening conditions.

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) November 7, 2026

Gaza's Civil Defense agency logged around 1,500 distress calls within 10 hours of the rainfall beginning. Water levels at several displacement sites climbed by 30 to 40 centimeters.

"What we feared has actually happened," Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal told local media. "A few shelter centers were completely flooded, and everyone inside them has now been forced out into the unknown."

Basal said premature babies, elderly people, and the sick faced the greatest risks. "Those living in tents are at risk of death at any moment, and of illness at any moment," he added.

The storm also disrupted operations at Gaza's already strained health facilities. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, told Al Jazeera that the hospital's emergency department was flooded and remained out of service for about four hours.

"We will see many deaths, in the dozens and perhaps the hundreds, among newborns who need warmth in these tents," he said, noting that sewage mixing with rainwater inside tents could trigger an increase in gastrointestinal, respiratory, and skin infections.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimates that nearly the entire population of Gaza requires assistance following the heavy rainfall. Around 90% of the population, half of whom are children, have been made homeless, according to the agency.

Heavy rains are flooding tents across the #GazaStrip – the latest threat to #children’s lives. At Sheikh Radwan pond, rainwater mixed with sewage could overflow, creating a public health crisis. @UNICEF again calls for entry of equipment to repair water & sanitation systems. https://t.co/Dgcj8V606K

— UNICEF Palestine (@UNICEFpalestine) November 7, 2026

On Saturday, the Palestinian Presidency held Israel and the US-led "Board of Peace" responsible for the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, pointing to continued Israeli attacks, restrictions on humanitarian aid, and failure to comply with the UN Security Council resolution.

Israel's Arab Joint List, which recently secured 12 seats in the country's 120-member parliament, the Knesset, also cautioned that heavy rainfall and flooding were further deteriorating conditions in Gaza.

"One place had barely been mentioned in the coverage and that the flooding there had failed to make headlines," the Joint List stated, pointing out that this was the fourth winter in which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza had been forced to endure the cold in tents.

According to Gaza's Health Ministry, at least 74,640 Palestinians have been killed and 175,947 injured since the war began on October 7, 2023.