Heavy rains flood Gaza tents with sewage, putting thousands of children at risk
Save the Children says children in Gaza are sleeping on bare, wet ground in clothing soaked with sewage water after heavy rains flooded hundreds of tents and makeshift shelters over the weekend, heightening the risk of disease as winter sets in.
The group said more than 13,000 households were affected by Friday’s flooding, as Gaza’s sanitation system has largely collapsed after two years of Israeli bombardment, siege and severe aid restrictions. With drainage systems destroyed, rainwater mixed with sewage inundated tents, soaking mattresses, blankets, clothing and even food supplies.
According to the humanitarian shelter cluster, two-thirds of Gaza’s children – approximately 700,000 – are living in tents that are falling apart after two years of bombardment and displacement.
With more than 81 percent of buildings damaged, many families remain in deteriorating tents, patching holes with blankets and scraps of fabric.
Save the Children warned that cold exposure is deadly for Gaza’s already malnourished children, noting that at least 14 children, including newborns, died of hypothermia over the past two winters.
“This cannot happen again”, Ahmad Alhendawi, regional director for Save the Children in the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe, said. “Children and families have woken up submerged in sewage water. For the third winter now since the start of intense Israeli bombardment in October 2023, they are desperate not just for a lasting ceasefire but for secure, safe and warm places to sleep”, Alhendawi said.
Civil Defence warns Gaza residents not to return to collapsing homes
The Palestinian Civil Defence has urged Gaza residents to stay away from homes that were heavily damaged during Israel’s assault on the enclave, warning that approaching or re-entering these structures poses a direct threat to their lives.
Mahmoud Basal, the agency’s spokesperson, told Safa news agency that dozens of people have been killed and hundreds injured in recent weeks due to the collapse of cracked and unstable buildings. He called on displaced families to avoid returning to these homes and instead seek shelter in available tents or emergency centres.
Basal said thousands of homes across the Gaza Strip are now at risk of collapse because of the scale of destruction, with Gaza City having the largest share of structurally compromised buildings.
He added that many residents are returning to unsafe homes only because they have no alternatives, noting that Israel continues to block the entry of urgently needed tents and caravans. He urged the international community to provide safe and immediate alternatives until reconstruction can begin.
“Every moment that passes now represents a direct threat to people’s lives,” Basal said.
