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Powerful winter gusts brought walls down onto flimsy tents sheltering Palestinians uprooted by war in Gaza, claiming the lives of no fewer than 4 individuals. This tragedy underscores the dangerous situation that persist after over 24 months of intense bombardment and critical lack of humanitarian assistance.

Ceasefire Provides Little Respite from Harsh Elements

Although a ceasefire has been active from last fall, humanitarian organizations report that Palestinians do not have the adequate shelter required to survive frequent cold-weather events.

Medical staff at Gaza City's largest medical facility, which took in the bodies, reported on Tuesday that the deceased include two women, a girl, and a male adult.

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

"International actors has enabled us to experience death in every possible way," said Bassel Hamouda after the funeral. "While it is correct the bombing may have paused for now, but we have seen all imaginable reasons of fatality in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Relatives Buried in Shelter Collapse

According to Shifa hospital, three people of a single household — elderly a man, his teenage granddaughter, and his daughter-in-law — were fatally injured when an eight-metre high wall fell onto their dwelling in a area near the sea of the city. No fewer than five others were hurt in the event.

Family members on Tuesday started removing the debris that had entombed their loved ones and rebuilding the tent shelters for those who remained.

Humanitarian Efforts and Continuing Emergency

The UN and its aid organization allies were handing out tents, tarps, warm covers and clothing as well as nutrition and hygiene supplies throughout Gaza, stated the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs.

Most of Palestinians reside in improvised tents since their houses were reduced to ruins during the war. Aid groups say an insufficient amount of building supplies are reaching Gaza under the ceasefire.

Casualty Numbers Since the Ceasefire

Local health authorities, which is part of the Hamas-run government, says more than 440 people have been fatally shot by Israeli fire and their bodies taken to hospitals since the truce began. The authority keeps detailed casualty records that are considered generally reliable by international bodies and independent experts.

James Elder, spokesperson for the UN children’s agency Unicef, stated on Tuesday that no fewer than 100 children under the age of 18 – 60 boys and 40 girls – had been killed since the truce started because of military operations, including unmanned aerial vehicle attacks, air raids, tank shelling and use of bullets. Those figures, he said, reflected cases where enough information had been gathered to warrant documentation, but the total toll is expected to be greater. He noted that many hundreds of children had been injured.

"Although 'explosions and gunfire have slowed' under the truce, they have not ceased," Elder informed journalists at a press conference in the Swiss city by video link from the Strip. "Therefore what the world now calls quiet would be considered a crisis in any other place," he concluded.

Third Cold Season of Hardship

Gaza’s population of more than two million people has been fighting to keep the cold weather and bad weather at bay while enduring shortages of assistance and a absence of more substantial transitional shelter, which is badly required during the colder season. It’s the third cold season after the war involving the state and Hamas began on 7 October 2023, when fighters stormed into southern Israel and murdered around 1,200 individuals and took hostage 251 more into Gaza.

Gaza’s health ministry says over 71,400 people have been killed in Israel’s military campaign.