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Powerful cold-season gusts brought walls down onto fragile tents sheltering Palestinians displaced by conflict in Gaza, killing at least 4 people. This tragedy highlights the perilous situation that persist after more than two years of devastating airstrikes and severe lack of humanitarian assistance.

Ceasefire Offers No Relief from Harsh Elements

Although a ceasefire has been in effect since October, aid groups state that Palestinians broadly lack the sufficient shelter necessary to withstand recurring winter storms.

Medical staff at Gaza City's largest medical facility, which received the bodies, reported on this week that the deceased were a pair of adult females, a girl, and a male adult.

Separately, the Gaza health ministry stated on Tuesday that a 12-month-old infant died of extreme cold during the night.

"The world has allowed us to experience loss of life in every possible way," stated a family member following the burial. "While it is correct the bombing may have temporarily stopped, but we have witnessed every conceivable cause of death in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Family Crushed in Tent Collapse

As per the medical center, three people of a one family — elderly Mohamed Hamouda, his 15-year-old relative, and his son's wife — were fatally injured when an eight-metre high wall fell on top of their dwelling in a area near the sea of the city. At least five additional people were hurt in the incident.

Family members on that day began clearing the debris that had entombed their family and reconstructing the temporary homes for those who remained.

Humanitarian Efforts and Continuing Emergency

The UN and its humanitarian partners were handing out shelter kits, tarps, blankets and clothes as well as food and sanitation supplies across Gaza, said the relevant UN coordination body.

Most of the population reside in improvised shelters since their homes were reduced to ruins over the course of the war. Aid groups contend an insufficient amount of shelter materials are reaching Gaza under the truce.

Fatality Numbers Since the Ceasefire

The Gaza health ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government, reports over 440 people have been fatally shot by Israeli fire and their bodies brought to hospitals since the truce began. The ministry maintains detailed fatality records that are seen as generally reliable by international bodies and independent experts.

A spokesperson for UNICEF, representing the UN children’s agency Unicef, stated on Tuesday that no fewer than one hundred children under the age of 18 – 60 boys and 40 females – had been lost their lives after the ceasefire started because of armed actions, including unmanned aerial vehicle attacks, air raids, artillery fire and use of bullets. These numbers, he explained, reflected incidents where enough information had been compiled to warrant documentation, but the overall count is believed to be higher. He added that many hundreds of children had been injured.

"Although 'explosions and shootings have slowed' under the ceasefire, they have not ceased," Elder told reporters at a press conference in the Swiss city by video link from Gaza City. "So what the world now calls calm would be considered a catastrophe in any other place," he said.

Third Winter of Hardship

Gaza’s population of more than 2 million people has been fighting to keep the cold weather and storms at bay while enduring lack of assistance and a absence of sturdier temporary housing, which is urgently required during the winter months. This marks the 3rd winter after the conflict involving Israel and Hamas began on 7 October 2023, when militants attacked Israeli territory and murdered approximately twelve hundred people and abducted 251 more into Gaza.

Gaza’s health ministry reports over seventy-one thousand four hundred Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive.