Six Palestinians, including two children, were rescued alive on Wednesday after a building partially collapsed during severe storms in northern Gaza, according to Gaza’s Civil Defence.
The collapse occurred when the upper roof of a three-story building gave way in the Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, amid a powerful low-pressure system that has battered the enclave since Monday.
Rescue teams pulled the victims from beneath the rubble, and all were reported to be in stable condition.
Storms deepen risks for displaced families
Heavy rainfall, strong winds, and thunderstorms have swept across Gaza for days, posing acute dangers to hundreds of thousands of displaced residents living in worn-out tents or structurally damaged buildings.
Many shelters have already been weakened by repeated Israeli air strikes since October 2023.
The latest rescue followed another deadly incident on Tuesday, when one Palestinian was killed and several others were injured after rain triggered a partial building collapse in Gaza City.
Civil Defence officials said at least 14 people were killed in a winter storm last week alone.
More than 53,000 displacement tents were reported partially or completely flooded, torn apart by wind, or swept away by torrents, while at least 13 buildings collapsed across the territory.
A humanitarian crisis compounded
Aid agencies warn that winter weather is magnifying an already dire humanitarian emergency in Gaza, where basic shelter, heating materials, and building repairs remain scarce.
Since October 2023, Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed nearly 70,700 Palestinians—most of them women and children—and injured more than 171,000 others, according to local health authorities, leaving much of the enclave in ruins and vulnerable to further disaster as storms continue.
