Arya News - Heavy rain and cold weather across the Gaza Strip have caused flooding and complicated an already difficult humanitarian situation for Palestinians, the overwhelming majority of whom live in tents and other temporary shelters after two years of war.
Heavy rain and cold weather across the Gaza Strip have caused flooding and complicated an already difficult humanitarian situation for Palestinians, the overwhelming majority of whom live in tents and other temporary shelters after two years of war.
In Khan Younis, southern Gaza, the Abu Jazar family awoke Thursday morning to find that their 8-month-old baby, Rahaf, had died of hypothermia caused by the severe cold, according to her parents and Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
Her parents told CNN their tent was flooded overnight. Weeping and caressing the lifeless Rahaf in her arms, the baby’s mother, Hejar Abu Jazar, kept ululating in despair. She said she had fed her daughter the previous night.
“She was completely fine. I breastfed her last night. Then all of a sudden, I found her freezing and shivering. She was healthy, my sweetheart,” she cried.
Municipal authorities in Gaza City warned residents Wednesday to avoid low-lying areas, saying the rain threatened to displace thousands of families from temporary shelters again with no suitable alternatives available.
“In light of these serious conditions, the municipality renews its appeal to the international community and humanitarian and relief organizations to intervene urgently,” the municipality said in a statement.
Many of the areas where internally displaced people are located are lower than street level, causing rainwater to collect around and inside families’ tents, Haytham Herzallah of Medical Aid for Palestinians said Wednesday.
“The situation is made worse by sewage overflows, exposing people to both rainwater and wastewater while living in shelters that offer little protection from cold or water,” Herzallah said.
“No materials have entered Gaza since the ceasefire to improve living conditions. Even the very few tents that have arrived are designed for desert conditions — they do not protect from rain or provide warmth,” he added.
Dr. Muneer al-Bursh, director general of the Health Ministry in Gaza, described the storm as a fourth tragedy impacting the Strip’s residents, on top of killing, displacement and “a futureless exile.”
“Every winter storm hitting Gaza pushes suffering far beyond weather, as people live in destroyed homes and torn tents without walls or heating,” he said. “Cold and rain become a direct health threat amid overcrowding and severe shortages of food and medicine.”
The rain continued Thursday, with Gaza’s Civil Defense recording the submersion of “entire camps” from the north to the south.
Palestinians gather around a fire to stay warm during cold weather as people struggle to survive harsh living conditions in Gaza City on December 6, 2025. - Anas Zeyad Fteha/Anadou/Getty Images
CNN footage from one such camp in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza showed dozens of dilapidated tents standing in muddy water and on sodden ground.
In Um Ibrahim Ubeid’s soaked tent, she described a harsh night for her and her children.
“Last night was very difficult,” she told CNN. “I put the children to sleep, and the water engulfed us. You can feel the bedding and the amount of water in it. The other children were awake all night trying to remove the water.”
“There is no life at all,” she added. “We have no life.”
CNN’s footage shows children helping adults as they dig and clear away wet mud. Some are seen hopping barefooted over massive puddles.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said earlier in the week that nearly 850,000 people are sheltering in 761 displacement sites in Gaza that are particularly vulnerable to flooding.
As many tents have been submerged by the flooding, so have the residents’ belongings. Mahmoud Abu Salah lamented how the few food items and flour he had were damaged by the rain.
“Where are those who are responsible for us? They are in a deep sleep! We only have God,” he said.
CNN’s Abeer Salman and Ibrahim Dahman contributed to this report.
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