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Strong winter winds caused walls to collapse upon fragile tents housing Palestinians displaced by conflict in Gaza, killing no fewer than 4 individuals. These deaths highlights the perilous situation that continue after over two years of devastating bombardment and critical lack of humanitarian assistance.

Truce Offers No Relief from Severe Weather

While a truce has been active from last fall, aid groups state that Palestinians broadly lack the sufficient housing required to withstand frequent winter storms.

Officials at Gaza City's largest medical facility, which received the bodies, said on Tuesday that the deceased include a pair of adult females, a girl, and a man.

In a separate incident, the Gaza health ministry stated on Tuesday that a 12-month-old infant died of hypothermia overnight.

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

Family Crushed in Tent Collapse

According to the medical center, 3 people of a one household — elderly Mohamed Hamouda, his teenage relative, and his son's wife — were fatally injured when an 26-foot high wall fell on top of their dwelling in a coastal area of the city. No fewer than 5 additional people were injured in the incident.

Their relatives on that day started clearing the rubble that had buried their loved ones and rebuilding the temporary homes for survivors.

Aid Distribution and Continuing Crisis

United Nations agencies and its humanitarian partners were handing out shelter kits, tarps, warm covers and clothing as well as food and hygiene items throughout Gaza, said the relevant UN coordination body.

The majority of Palestinians reside in makeshift tents since their homes were turned into ruins during the hostilities. Humanitarian organizations say an insufficient amount of building supplies are entering Gaza during the ceasefire.

Casualty Numbers Since the Ceasefire

The Gaza health ministry, part of the administration, says more than four hundred and forty people have been fatally shot by Israeli fire and their bodies taken to hospitals after the truce went into effect. The ministry keeps comprehensive fatality records that are considered generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts.

A spokesperson for UNICEF, spokesperson for the UN children's fund, said on Tuesday that no fewer than 100 children under the age of 18 – 60 males and forty females – had been killed after the truce began due to armed actions, including unmanned aerial vehicle attacks, airstrikes, tank shelling and employment of live ammunition. Those figures, he said, represented incidents where enough information had been compiled to warrant documentation, but the overall count is believed to be higher. He added that hundreds of children had been injured.

"Although 'explosions and shootings have decreased' during the truce, they have not ceased," the spokesperson told reporters at a press conference in the Swiss city by video link from Gaza City. "Therefore what the international community now terms quiet would be considered a catastrophe in any other place," he concluded.

Another Winter of Hardship

Gaza’s residents of over 2 million people has been struggling to keep the cold weather and storms at bay while facing shortages of humanitarian aid and a lack of sturdier temporary housing, which is urgently needed during the colder season. This marks the third cold season since the conflict involving the state and the group started on a date in late 2023, when militants attacked Israeli territory and murdered around twelve hundred people and abducted two hundred and fifty-one others into Gaza.

The local health authority reports more than 71,400 people have been fatally injured in Israel’s military campaign.