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Powerful cold-season winds brought walls down upon flimsy tents sheltering Palestinians uprooted by war in Gaza, killing at least four individuals. This tragedy underscores the dangerous situation that persist after more than two years of intense airstrikes and severe shortages of aid.

Truce Offers Little Relief from Severe Weather

While a ceasefire has been in effect since last fall, humanitarian organizations report that Palestinians broadly lack the adequate shelter required to withstand recurring cold-weather events.

Officials at Gaza City's largest medical facility, which took in the bodies, reported on Tuesday that the deceased were two women, a young female, and a man.

Separately, the Gaza health ministry stated on the same day that a 12-month-old infant succumbed of extreme cold overnight.

"International actors has allowed us to experience death in all its forms," stated a family member following the burial. "While it is correct the bombing may have temporarily stopped, but we have witnessed all imaginable reasons of fatality in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Family Buried in Tent Collapse

According to Shifa hospital, 3 people of a one family — elderly a man, his teenage granddaughter, and his daughter-in-law — were killed when an 26-foot tall wall fell on top of their dwelling in a coastal area of Gaza City. At least five others were injured in the event.

Their relatives on that day began removing the rubble that had entombed their family and rebuilding the tent shelters for those who remained.

Humanitarian Efforts and Continuing Crisis

The UN and its humanitarian partners were distributing shelter kits, tarps, blankets and clothes as well as food and sanitation items across Gaza, said the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs.

Most of the population reside in improvised shelters since their houses were turned into ruins during the hostilities. Humanitarian organizations say an insufficient amount of building supplies are reaching Gaza during the ceasefire.

Fatality Numbers After the Truce

The Gaza health ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government, reports over 440 people have been killed by gunfire and their remains taken to hospitals after the truce went into effect. The ministry keeps detailed fatality records that are seen as generally reliable by international bodies and outside analysts.

James Elder, spokesperson for the UN children's fund, stated on Tuesday that at least 100 minors under the age of 18 – sixty boys and forty females – had been killed since the ceasefire started because of armed actions, including unmanned aerial vehicle attacks, air raids, artillery fire and employment of bullets. These numbers, he said, represented cases where enough information had been compiled to warrant documentation, but the total toll is expected to be greater. He added that many hundreds of minors had been wounded.

"While 'bombings and gunfire have slowed' during the ceasefire, they have not stopped," the spokesperson informed journalists at a UN briefing in Geneva by video from the Strip. "So what the international community now terms calm would be considered a crisis anywhere else," he concluded.

Third Winter of Hardship

Gaza’s population of more than two million individuals has been fighting to keep the cold weather and storms away while facing shortages of assistance and a absence of more substantial transitional shelter, which is badly needed during the winter months. This marks the third cold season after the conflict between the state and Hamas began on 7 October 2023, when fighters stormed into Israeli territory and murdered around twelve hundred people and abducted 251 more into Gaza.

The local health authority says more than 71,400 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military campaign.