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Powerful winter gusts caused walls to collapse upon fragile tents sheltering people uprooted by war in Gaza, claiming the lives of at least four individuals. These deaths underscores the perilous situation that persist after over 24 months of devastating airstrikes and critical lack of aid.

Ceasefire Provides No Respite from Harsh Weather

Although a ceasefire has been active from last fall, humanitarian organizations report that residents do not have the sufficient shelter necessary to withstand frequent cold-weather events.

Medical staff at Gaza City's largest medical facility, which received the bodies, said on Tuesday that the dead were two women, a young female, and a male adult.

In a separate incident, the Gaza health ministry announced on the same day that a 12-month-old infant died of extreme cold during the night.

"The world has enabled us to experience loss of life in every possible way," said a family member after the burial. "While it is correct the bombing may have paused for now, but we have witnessed all imaginable reasons of death in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Family Crushed in Shelter Collapse

According to the medical center, three members of a one family — elderly Mohamed Hamouda, his teenage granddaughter, and his daughter-in-law — were fatally injured when an 26-foot tall wall fell on top of their tent in a area near the sea of the city. At least 5 additional people were hurt in the incident.

Their relatives on that day started clearing the debris that had entombed their loved ones and rebuilding the temporary homes for survivors.

Humanitarian Distribution and Ongoing Emergency

United Nations agencies and its aid organization allies were distributing tents, plastic sheeting, warm covers and clothing as well as nutrition and hygiene supplies across Gaza, said the relevant UN coordination body.

The majority of Palestinians reside in improvised tents since their houses were turned into rubble over the course of the hostilities. Humanitarian organizations contend not enough shelter materials are reaching Gaza during the ceasefire.

Casualty Numbers Since the Ceasefire

The Gaza health ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, reports over four hundred and forty individuals have been killed by gunfire and their bodies brought to hospitals since the ceasefire began. The ministry maintains comprehensive fatality records that are seen as largely accurate by international bodies and independent experts.

A spokesperson for UNICEF, representing the UN children’s agency Unicef, said on that day that no fewer than one hundred minors under the age of 18 – 60 boys and 40 girls – had been killed after the truce began because of military operations, such as unmanned aerial vehicle attacks, airstrikes, artillery fire and use of live ammunition. These numbers, he said, represented incidents where enough details had been gathered to justify documentation, but the total toll is believed to be greater. He added that hundreds of minors had been injured.

"Although 'explosions and gunfire have slowed' during the truce, they have not ceased," Elder told reporters at a press conference in Geneva by video link from Gaza City. "Therefore what the international community now terms calm would be considered a catastrophe in any other place," he said.

Another Cold Season of Hardship

Gaza’s residents of over 2 million individuals has been fighting to fend off the freezing temperatures and storms away while facing shortages of assistance and a absence of more substantial transitional shelter, which is badly required during the winter months. It’s the third winter after the war involving Israel and the group started on 7 October 2023, when fighters attacked Israeli territory and murdered around 1,200 people and abducted 251 more into Gaza.

Gaza’s health ministry says more than seventy-one thousand four hundred people have been killed in Israel’s military campaign.