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Powerful winter winds caused walls to collapse upon fragile tents sheltering Palestinians displaced by conflict in Gaza, claiming the lives of at least four people. These deaths highlights the perilous living conditions that continue after over 24 months of devastating bombardment and critical shortages of humanitarian assistance.

Truce Offers No Respite from Severe Weather

While a ceasefire has been in effect since October, aid groups report that residents broadly lack the adequate shelter required to survive frequent cold-weather events.

Officials at Gaza City's largest medical facility, which took in the victims, said on this week that the deceased were two women, a young female, and a man.

In a separate incident, the local health authority announced on the same day that a one-year-old boy succumbed of extreme cold overnight.

"The world has allowed us to witness death in all its forms," stated Bassel Hamouda after the burial. "It’s true the bombing may have paused for now, but we have seen every conceivable cause of death in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Relatives Buried in Shelter Collapse

As per Shifa hospital, three members of a one family — 72-year-old a man, his teenage granddaughter, and his daughter-in-law — were fatally injured when an 26-foot tall wall collapsed on top of their tent in a coastal area of Gaza City. No fewer than five others were hurt in the incident.

Their relatives on that day started removing the debris that had entombed their family and rebuilding the tent shelters for those who remained.

Aid Distribution and Ongoing Emergency

The UN and its aid organization allies were handing out shelter kits, tarps, warm covers and clothing as well as food and sanitation items across Gaza, said the relevant UN coordination body.

Most of the population live in makeshift tents since their homes were reduced to rubble during the war. Aid groups say not enough shelter materials are reaching Gaza under the ceasefire.

Fatality Figures After the Truce

Local health authorities, part of the Hamas-run government, reports more than 440 individuals have been fatally shot by gunfire and their remains brought to hospitals since the ceasefire began. The ministry keeps comprehensive casualty data that are seen as largely accurate by UN agencies and outside analysts.

James Elder, spokesperson for the UN children’s agency Unicef, said on Tuesday that no fewer than 100 children below eighteen years old – 60 males and forty females – had been killed after the truce began because of armed actions, such as drone strikes, airstrikes, tank shelling and use of bullets. These numbers, he said, represented incidents where sufficient information had been gathered to warrant documentation, but the total toll is expected to be higher. He added that hundreds of minors had been wounded.

"While 'explosions and gunfire have decreased' during the truce, they have not stopped," the spokesperson informed reporters at a press conference in the Swiss city by video from the Strip. "So what the world now calls quiet would be viewed as a catastrophe in any other place," he concluded.

Third Cold Season of Struggle

Gaza’s population of over 2 million individuals has been fighting to fend off the cold weather and bad weather away while enduring shortages of assistance and a lack of sturdier temporary housing, which is urgently needed throughout the winter months. This marks the 3rd cold season after the conflict between the state and Hamas started on a date in late 2023, when fighters stormed into Israeli territory and killed around twelve hundred people and took hostage 251 others into Gaza.

Gaza’s health ministry says more than 71,400 people have been fatally injured in the subsequent military campaign.