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Strong cold-season winds caused walls to collapse onto fragile tents housing Palestinians displaced by conflict in Gaza, killing no fewer than 4 people. This tragedy highlights the dangerous situation that persist after more than 24 months of devastating airstrikes and critical shortages of aid.

Ceasefire Provides No Relief from Harsh Elements

While a ceasefire has been active from last fall, aid groups state that Palestinians do not have the sufficient shelter required to withstand frequent cold-weather events.

Medical staff at Gaza City's largest medical facility, which took in the bodies, said on Tuesday that the deceased were a pair of adult females, a girl, and a male adult.

Separately, the Gaza health ministry stated on the same day that a one-year-old boy died of extreme cold during the night.

"The world has enabled us to witness loss of life in all its forms," stated Bassel Hamouda after the funeral. "It’s true the shelling may have temporarily stopped, but we have witnessed all imaginable reasons of fatality in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Family Buried in Shelter Collapse

According to the medical center, three people of a one household — 72-year-old Mohamed Hamouda, his teenage granddaughter, and his son's wife — were fatally injured when an eight-metre high wall fell onto their dwelling in a area near the sea of the city. No fewer than 5 others were hurt in the event.

Their relatives on that day started removing the debris that had entombed their loved ones and reconstructing the tent shelters for survivors.

Aid Distribution and Ongoing Emergency

United Nations agencies and its aid organization allies were distributing shelter kits, plastic sheeting, blankets and clothing as well as nutrition and hygiene supplies throughout Gaza, said the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs.

The majority of Palestinians reside in makeshift tents since their houses were turned into ruins over the course of the war. Aid groups say an insufficient amount of shelter materials are entering Gaza under the truce.

Fatality Numbers After the Truce

Local health authorities, which is part of the administration, says more than 440 individuals have been killed by Israeli fire and their bodies brought to hospitals after the truce went into effect. The ministry keeps detailed casualty records that are considered generally reliable by international bodies and independent experts.

A spokesperson for UNICEF, spokesperson for the UN children’s agency Unicef, stated on that day that at least 100 children below eighteen years old – 60 boys and forty females – had been killed since the ceasefire started due to armed actions, such as drone strikes, air raids, artillery fire and employment of live ammunition. Those figures, he said, reflected cases where enough information had been gathered to justify documentation, but the overall count is expected to be higher. He noted that hundreds of minors had been wounded.

"Although 'explosions and gunfire have decreased' under the ceasefire, they have not ceased," the spokesperson told reporters at a UN briefing in Geneva by video link from Gaza City. "Therefore what the world now terms calm would be viewed as a catastrophe anywhere else," he said.

Third Cold Season of Struggle

Gaza’s residents of over 2 million individuals has been fighting to fend off the freezing temperatures and bad weather at bay while enduring lack of humanitarian aid and a lack of more substantial temporary housing, which is badly required throughout the winter months. It’s the third cold season after the conflict involving Israel and Hamas began on a date in late 2023, when militants stormed into Israeli territory and murdered around 1,200 individuals and abducted 251 more into Gaza.

Gaza’s health ministry says more than 71,400 people have been fatally injured in the subsequent military campaign.