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Powerful cold-season winds caused walls to collapse upon fragile shelters sheltering Palestinians uprooted by conflict in Gaza, killing at least 4 people. This tragedy highlights the dangerous situation that persist after more than 24 months of intense bombardment and severe shortages of humanitarian assistance.

Truce Provides No Respite from Harsh Elements

While a ceasefire has been active from last fall, aid groups report that residents broadly lack the adequate shelter necessary to survive frequent winter storms.

Medical staff at Shifa hospital, which took in the bodies, said on this week that the deceased include a pair of adult females, a young female, and a male adult.

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

"International actors has allowed us to experience death in every possible way," said Bassel Hamouda after the funeral. "It’s true the bombing may have paused for now, but we have seen all imaginable reasons of fatality in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Family Crushed in Tent Collapse

According to Shifa hospital, 3 members of a single family — elderly Mohamed Hamouda, his teenage relative, and his son's wife — were killed when an 26-foot high wall collapsed onto their tent in a area near the sea of Gaza City. No fewer than five additional people were hurt in the incident.

Their relatives on Tuesday began clearing the debris that had buried their family and reconstructing the tent shelters for survivors.

Aid Efforts and Ongoing Crisis

United Nations agencies and its aid organization allies were handing out tents, plastic sheeting, warm covers and clothing as well as food and sanitation supplies throughout Gaza, said the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs.

The majority of the population reside in makeshift shelters since their houses were turned into ruins during the war. Aid groups say not enough shelter materials are entering Gaza during the truce.

Casualty Figures After the Truce

Local health authorities, which is part of the Hamas-run government, reports over four hundred and forty people have been fatally shot by Israeli fire and their remains brought to hospitals after the ceasefire went into effect. The authority maintains comprehensive casualty data that are considered largely accurate by UN agencies and outside analysts.

A spokesperson for UNICEF, representing the UN children's fund, stated on Tuesday that no fewer than one hundred children under the age of 18 – sixty boys and 40 girls – had been killed since the truce started due to armed actions, such as drone strikes, air raids, tank shelling and use of bullets. These numbers, he said, reflected incidents where sufficient information had been compiled to justify documentation, but the total toll is expected to be greater. He noted that many hundreds of children had been injured.

"While 'bombings and shootings have decreased' under the truce, they have not stopped," Elder informed reporters at a press conference in Geneva by video from Gaza City. "Therefore what the international community now calls quiet would be considered a crisis in any other place," he concluded.

Another Cold Season of Struggle

Gaza’s population of over two million individuals has been struggling to fend off the cold weather and storms away while enduring lack of humanitarian aid and a lack of more substantial temporary housing, which is badly needed throughout the winter months. This marks the 3rd winter after the conflict involving the state and Hamas began on 7 October 2023, when militants attacked southern Israel and killed around twelve hundred people and abducted two hundred and fifty-one others into Gaza.

The local health authority says more than 71,400 Palestinians have been killed in the subsequent military campaign.