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SvennoJ on 12 December 2025
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Storm turns thousands of makeshift shelters in Gaza into traps

The storm has hit Gaza, turning thousands of makeshift shelters into traps for Palestinian families who have been repeatedly displaced during the war.

I’m at a displacement site in al-Mawasi in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, with officials warning that there could be floods, heavy rain and hail, continuing through today. It is expected to threaten some 850,000 people, including many children, sheltering in 761 sites.

Here, tents have been destroyed due to the heavy rain and wind, leaving families facing ruined makeshift shelters.

Hundreds of thousands of people live on the coastline in al-Mawasi and are at constant risk. In some areas, parts of the ground near the shore collapsed, threatening tents.

Families have been living in a state of displacement for over two years of Israeli attacks.


Palestinians walk through rubble amid stormy weather in Gaza City, on Thursday, December 11


‘Political choice’ to block temporary shelter equipment from entering Gaza: UNRWA

Weather conditions are affecting families in Gaza terribly, says Jonathan Fowler, a spokesperson for the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), which has teams working on the ground.

“People who have nothing need everything and are suddenly confronted by this disastrous storm,” he told Al Jazeera from Jordan’s Amman.

He said the population has been displaced multiple times from one flimsy shelter to the next, and the storm is compounding the situation while Israel is not allowing enough supplies in.

“We as UNRWA remain banned by the Israeli authorities from bringing anything into Gaza. Yet we have shelter supplies for more than a million people, sitting outside the Gaza Strip that we can bring in immediately if we’re allowed to. It is a political choice to deny us the possibility of bringing that aid in,” Fowler said.

But he added that colleagues on the ground are using the resources they have and those brought in by partner organisations to assist the population, including by pumping away sewage, as the infrastructure has been destroyed by Israel.

“There are lakes of untreated sewage waters all over the place,” he said.



At least 12 buildings have collapsed in Gaza since storm onset: Ministry

The Ministry of Interior and National Security in Gaza says operating teams have received more than 4,300 distress calls from people across the enclave since the onset of the storm.

Over the past few hours, at least 12 incidents were recorded of previously shelled buildings collapsing as a result of the strong wind and heavy rains, it said in a statement.

The ministry said its police forces are helping civil defence and municipal teams conduct rescue operations despite limited resources as several people remain missing and are believed to be under the rubble.

“What is happening now is a wakeup call for everyone to face up to their responsibilities,” the statement said, calling on the international community to intervene in order for Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Translation: A house collapsed on its residents in the Gaza Strip as a result of the storm, and civil defence teams are working to recover bodies from under the rubble.