A powerful winter storm sweeping Gaza has killed at least 12 Palestinians, including children, as torrential rain, freezing temperatures and strong winds triggered deadly collapses of bombed-out buildings, flooded displacement camps and exposed families to extreme cold, according to authorities in Gaza and medical sources.
Gaza's interior ministry said on Friday it recorded 12 incidents of collapsed buildings previously struck by Israeli attacks since the storm began on Wednesday, resulting in the deaths of at least eight people, including children, and injuries to others.
The collapses were caused by heavy rainfall and strong winds.
Several people remain missing under the rubble of a house that collapsed on Friday in Gaza City's al-Karama neighbourhood after heavy rain, the ministry said, adding that emergency rooms have received more than 4,300 distress calls from residents across the enclave since Wednesday.
Civil Defence and police teams, supported by municipal workers, are continuing rescue operations "despite extremely limited capabilities and worn-out equipment", the ministry added.
Tents destroyed, displacement worsens
Separately, the Gaza Media Office said the storm and polar cold wave have left 12 people dead or missing across all Gaza governorates due to building collapses and storm impacts.
It said at least 13 homes collapsed, most recently in Gaza City's al-Karama and Sheikh Radwan neighbourhoods, while Civil Defence teams continue responding to hundreds of emergency calls.
The office added that more than 27,000 displacement tents were flooded, swept away by torrents or torn apart by strong winds, directly affecting over 250,000 displaced Palestinians whose shelters were destroyed or severely damaged by rain and runoff.
Gaza's Civil Defence also reported that rescue teams in Gaza City recovered the body of a Palestinian killed when a house collapsed in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood after heavy rain weakened the already damaged structure.
The agency's spokesperson, Mahmoud Basal, said seven Palestinians were initially reported missing beneath the debris when the house collapsed.
In a separate incident, a security source said a building previously damaged by Israeli air strikes collapsed in Gaza City's al-Tuffah neighbourhood due to heavy rainfall, though no injuries were reported.
Another war-damaged building also collapsed in the town of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza after the storm intensified. No casualties were reported in that incident.
With these latest cases, the number of buildings previously damaged by Israeli bombardment and later brought down by rain has risen to 16.
Five storm-related deaths previously reported
Friday's developments add to the five deaths already confirmed across Gaza.
Earlier, local sources said three Palestinians were killed on Friday in separate incidents caused by storm-related structural collapses. Two brothers, Khader and Khalil Iyhab Hanouna, died when a wall collapsed onto their tent in central Gaza City under the weight of intense rainfall.
In northern Gaza, Civil Defence teams recovered the body of another Palestinian after a house collapsed in the Beit Lahiya area of Jabalia. Two injured children were rescued, and searches continue for possible additional victims trapped under the rubble.
Separately, two Palestinian children died from severe cold in their displacement shelters in different parts of Gaza City and were pronounced dead on arrival at Al-Shifa Hospital, according to medical sources.
The first victim, nine-year-old Hadeel Hamdan, had been sheltering with her family in a school converted into a displacement centre, where families face harsh conditions and a lack of heating supplies.
The second child, an infant identified as Taym al-Khawaja, died from extreme cold while living with his family in the remains of their home, already damaged by Israeli strikes, in the Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City.
These two deaths brought the total number of children who have died from cold exposure since the storm began on Wednesday to three, after an infant girl, Rahaf Abu Jazar, died on Thursday in Khan Younis when her family's tent flooded with rainwater.
Three buildings also collapsed west of Gaza City on Thursday as heavy rain and flooding continued to hit the enclave.
About 250,000 families are currently living in displacement camps across Gaza, many facing cold weather and flooding inside fragile tents, according to the Civil Defence.
Although a ceasefire took effect on October 10, living conditions in Gaza have not improved, as Israel continues to impose strict restrictions on the entry of aid trucks, violating the humanitarian protocol of the agreement.
Israel has killed more than 70,000 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 171,000 others in attacks in Gaza since October 2023, which have continued despite the truce.
