Winter rain brings new misery for war-hit Palestinians in Gaza

Children and families in Gaza scooped muddy water from their tents on Tuesday, trying to protect the few belongings that remain after two years of war.

Winter’s heavy rain has left displaced Palestinians splashing in water that reaches their ankles, and blaming both Israel and Hamas for the misery that remains despite a ceasefire.

“All tents were destroyed,” said Assmaa Fayad in Deir Al Balah in central Gaza, whose shelter was damaged in Tuesday’s latest downpour. “Where is Hamas? Where are the people to see this rain and how our children are drowning?”

A Hamas spokesperson, Hazem Qassem, lashed out in a message on Telegram: “All the world’s efforts to alleviate the disaster have failed because of the Israeli siege.”

Aid organisations worry that the rainy winter months will make the stark situation worse, with ongoing shortages of humanitarian supplies. They are scrambling to mitigate the flooding and restore infrastructure devastated by the fighting.

Nearly all of Gaza’s over 2 million people were forced from their homes during the war. Most have been living in tents or shelters, some of them built over destroyed homes, with no proper sewage facilities. For toilets, they depend on cesspits dug near tents that overflow in heavy rainfall.

Reham Al Hilu was among those assessing the damage in Deir Al Balah, one of the areas hardest hit by the rains. Her wood and metal shelter collapsed overnight, and she said her head was injured.

“Rainwater flooded the mattresses,” she said. “As you can see, everything is soaked-the clothes, everything - and my children are all soaked.”

The United Nations humanitarian office last week said the downpours have damaged at least 13,000 tents like al-Hilu’s, and “destroyed what little shelter and belongings thousands of Palestinians in Gaza had left.”

The office said aid organisations had begun preparing for winter in October, when the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect, transporting materials like winterised tents into Gaza.

But the office said efforts have been hampered by the slow entry of aid. It said deliveries into the territory continue to be “severely constrained by Israeli authorities’ restrictions on the entry of shelter supplies.”

The Israeli defence body responsible for the entry of aid, COGAT, has said it is working to bring in more winter supplies. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

Despite that, aid groups were able to distribute over 3,600 tents, 129,000 tarpaulins and 87,000 blankets earlier this month, the UN office said.

Roadways in Deir Al Balah turned into shallow rivers of murky water. One man waded across carrying a young daughter in each arm.

Some families knelt on the ground, trying to soak up the water with pieces of cloth.

While daily fighting has stopped in Gaza, Israel continues to strike parts of the territory in response to what it says are violations by Hamas. Both sides have accused each other of violating ceasefire conditions.

And many displaced Palestinians remain crowded into the rough half of Gaza’s territory that Israeli forces don’t control.

In a separate development, Israel said Palestinian fighters on Tuesday handed over human remains to the Red Cross, which will deliver them next to the Israeli military.

It was not immediately clear if the remains were those of one of three hostages remaining in the Gaza Strip. The remains were expected to be taken to Israel for forensic testing and identification.

The handover is part of last month’s fragile ceasefire that has held despite Israeli strikes on Gaza, mounting Palestinian casualties, and mutual accusations of violations.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad announced it found the body earlier this week in Nuseirat, a refugee camp in central Gaza. Hamas had earlier said that the body was to be handed to the International Committee of the Red Cross on Tuesday afternoon.

Palestinian fighters have returned 25 bodies of hostages, a slow-going process called for under the truce deal that went into effect on Oct.10. In return, Israel has released the bodies of 330 Palestinians back to Gaza.

Agencies