Gaza / PNN / 

Residents of Gaza awoke to a new tragedy on Friday as the first, long-delayed winter rains flooded the flimsy tents sheltering displaced families across the besieged enclave. Many people were roused from sleep by water pouring into their makeshift shelters, while others awoke already submerged in the cold rainwater.

“The water woke us up,” one man shouted in anguish, asking why children must endure such suffering. He said tents belonging to displaced families in Gaza City were inundated as the first winter storm hit, adding: “Is anyone hearing us? Is anyone seeing what is happening?”

Rainfall swept across the Gaza Strip overnight, with some of the worst scenes reported in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, where tents collapsed, food was destroyed, and families lost the few belongings they had left.

Exhausted residents tried desperately to protect their children, scrambling to block the flow of water into their shelters using any materials available. In some areas, young men dug trenches to divert the rainwater away from tents in a last-ditch effort to prevent people from freezing or drowning.

Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza, said his teams had received “hundreds of distress calls,” but lacked the equipment to respond. “Every second of delay in providing proper tents puts lives at risk,” he warned.

Basal described a “real catastrophe,” saying many displaced families had no roof or cover to shield them from the rain as water poured over their heads and pooled around their feet. He added that some residents were fleeing to damaged and unstable buildings for shelter — structures already weakened by repeated bombardment — raising the risk of deadly collapses during the storm.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said the storm would “double the suffering” of Gaza’s displaced population. 

The agency noted limited international pressure on Israel had allowed a small number of aid trucks to enter via the Zikim crossing, but the supplies “do not meet even the minimum needs” of the population.

UNRWA said the flooded tents reflected the dire living conditions of the hundreds of thousands of displaced people across Gaza. More than 282,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged over two years of war, leaving vast numbers without shelter.

The agency warned that overcrowded displacement camps lack privacy and basic services. With the arrival of winter rain, UNRWA said, there is growing fear that water will seep into tents and mix with sewage, creating the risk of outbreaks of infectious diseases and worsening an already severe humanitarian crisis.