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Powerful winter gusts brought walls down upon flimsy tents housing Palestinians displaced by war in Gaza, claiming the lives of at least four people. These deaths underscores the perilous living conditions that continue after more than 24 months of devastating bombardment and critical shortages of humanitarian assistance.

Ceasefire Offers Little Respite from Harsh Weather

While a truce has been in effect since October, humanitarian organizations state that Palestinians do not have the adequate housing required to withstand recurring cold-weather events.

Medical staff at Gaza City's largest medical facility, which took in the bodies, said on this week that the deceased were two women, a young female, and a man.

Separately, the Gaza health ministry announced on Tuesday that a 12-month-old infant succumbed of hypothermia during the night.

"The world has allowed us to witness death in all its forms," stated Bassel Hamouda after the burial. "It’s true the shelling may have paused for now, but we have seen every conceivable cause of death in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Family Crushed in Shelter Collapse

As per Shifa hospital, 3 people of a one family — elderly Mohamed Hamouda, his 15-year-old relative, and his daughter-in-law — were fatally injured when an 26-foot tall wall collapsed on top of their tent in a area near the sea of the city. No fewer than five others were hurt in the incident.

Their relatives on that day started removing the rubble that had entombed their family and rebuilding the temporary homes for those who remained.

Humanitarian Distribution and Ongoing Crisis

United Nations agencies and its humanitarian partners were handing out tents, plastic sheeting, blankets and clothes as well as food and sanitation supplies across Gaza, said the relevant UN coordination body.

The majority of Palestinians reside in makeshift shelters because their homes were reduced to rubble over the course of the war. Humanitarian organizations say not enough shelter materials are entering Gaza during the truce.

Casualty Numbers Since the Ceasefire

Local health authorities, which is part of the administration, reports more than four hundred and forty people have been fatally shot by gunfire and their bodies taken to hospitals since the truce went into effect. The ministry maintains comprehensive casualty data that are considered generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts.

James Elder, spokesperson for the UN children's fund, stated on that day that at least 100 children under the age of 18 – sixty boys and forty girls – had been killed since the ceasefire began due to military operations, such as drone strikes, air raids, tank shelling and use of bullets. These numbers, he said, reflected cases where enough information had been compiled to warrant recording, but the overall count is expected to be higher. He noted that many hundreds of children had been wounded.

"Although 'bombings and gunfire have decreased' under the truce, they have not ceased," the spokesperson informed journalists at a UN briefing in Geneva by video link from the Strip. "So what the world now terms quiet would be viewed as a crisis in any other place," he said.

Another Cold Season of Hardship

Gaza’s population of more than 2 million people has been struggling to fend off the freezing temperatures and bad weather at bay while facing shortages of assistance and a absence of sturdier transitional shelter, which is urgently needed during the colder season. It’s the third winter after the conflict between the state and the group began on 7 October 2023, when fighters stormed into southern Israel and killed around 1,200 individuals and abducted 251 others into Gaza.

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