Four killed in Gaza after sand embankment collapses on to tents

Torrential rain in Gaza caused a sand embankment to collapse on to tents, killing a woman and three small children in an incident ‌that highlighted the danger facing hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians as the rainy winter season ​sets in.

Medics said ⁠heavy rain late on Sunday washed away a rocky sand bank abutting ‌a camp for displaced families ‌south of Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza. A woman and two of her children, aged 8 and 6, were killed. A fourth child, aged 4, was also killed, and six others were injured.

Video verified ‌by Reuters showed residents using hammers to break large sandy rocks and others removing sand with shovels searching ⁠for people trapped underneath using flashlights.

"What can one say about the situation in Gaza? Whoever did not die from bombs and missiles is dying from buildings collapsing on them, from the collapse of sand and mountains on them," said Amal Al-Zein, 35, a relative of the victims.

Sohaib Abu Darbali, a witness, said the collapse of the embankment sounded like an explosion.

"We found that three tents ​were covered completely after the mountain collapsed on top of them. People were under ‌the rubble and we couldn't see them," he told Reuters.

'The only solution is reconstruction'

The vast majority of Gaza's 2 million population lives in tent encampments or the ruins of bombed-out buildings, with reconstruction yet ⁠to begin following Israel's two-year military assault, launched after the 2023 Hamas attacks on southern Israel.

For many of them, this is the fourth winter during which they will need to cope with flood water overtaking their tents and ​soaking their ‌belongings when it rains.
Local authorities said at least 70,000 tents had been flooded in the ‌first hours after heavy rain began on Saturday.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said humanitarian partners had received appeals from more than 26,000 households reporting damage to shelters or belongings following weekend rainstorms.

A ‌US-brokered ceasefire last ‌year called for the eventual reconstruction of Gaza, but ⁠little progress has been made. Negotiators have failed to agree on terms for ‌Hamas to disarm or for Israel to withdraw its troops, which control about two-thirds of the territory and from which residents have been ordered to leave.

Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for ⁠Gaza's civil defence service, said people put up their tents next to sand banks ​believing they could protect them.

"Tents can't protect people, neither from rain nor of the heat, the only solution is reconstruction," Basal told Reuters.

Israel says no reconstruction can happen before ⁠Hamas is disarmed.

Reuters