The United Nations (UN) has announced that around 850,000 displaced people in Gaza — nearly half of the displaced population — are at high risk of flooding due to severe winter storms.
According to the UN, these people are living in more than 760 locations vulnerable to flooding after days of heavy rainfall.
Extreme conditions have already caused casualties. At least three children, including an infant, have died from hypothermia in recent days, according to hospital reports.
Separately, at least 14 people have lost their lives after walls and war-damaged buildings collapsed onto nearby tents during the storms.
Local authorities report that at least 13 buildings have collapsed as a result of the severe weather. The scale of damage to already fragile living conditions is extensive.
The mayor of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Alaa al-Batta, stated that more than 300,000 tents have been fully or partially flooded by the storms.
UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said that teams responded to more than 160 flood alerts on Thursday alone, assessing conditions for over 16,000 families.
The flooding crisis is significantly worsening shortages of food, clean water, and medicines in Gaza, creating an emergency that humanitarian agencies are struggling to address amid limited access and resources.
