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Strong cold-season gusts caused walls to collapse onto fragile shelters housing people displaced by war in Gaza, claiming the lives of at least 4 individuals. This tragedy underscores the perilous situation that continue after more than two years of devastating bombardment and critical shortages of aid.

Truce Provides No Respite from Severe Elements

Although a truce has been in effect from October, humanitarian organizations state that residents broadly lack the adequate shelter necessary to withstand recurring winter storms.

Medical staff at Gaza City's largest medical facility, which received the victims, said on Tuesday that the deceased include two women, a girl, and a man.

In a separate incident, the local health authority stated on Tuesday that a 12-month-old infant died of hypothermia during the night.

"International actors has enabled us to witness death in all its forms," stated a family member following the funeral. "It’s true the shelling may have temporarily stopped, but we have witnessed all imaginable reasons of fatality in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Relatives Crushed in Tent Collapse

As per the medical center, three people of a single family — elderly a man, his 15-year-old relative, and his daughter-in-law — were fatally injured when an 26-foot tall wall collapsed onto their tent in a area near the sea of the city. At least five additional people were injured in the incident.

Family members on Tuesday started clearing the rubble that had entombed their family and reconstructing the tent shelters for survivors.

Humanitarian Efforts and Continuing Emergency

United Nations agencies and its humanitarian partners were distributing shelter kits, plastic sheeting, warm covers and clothes as well as food and hygiene supplies throughout Gaza, stated the relevant UN coordination body.

The majority of the population reside in improvised shelters since their houses were reduced to ruins during the war. Humanitarian organizations contend not enough shelter materials are reaching Gaza under the truce.

Fatality Figures Since the Ceasefire

The Gaza health ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government, reports over 440 individuals have been killed by gunfire and their bodies brought to hospitals after the truce went into effect. The authority maintains comprehensive fatality data that are considered generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts.

James Elder, spokesperson for the UN children’s agency Unicef, stated on Tuesday that no fewer than 100 minors under the age of 18 – 60 boys and 40 girls – had been killed since the ceasefire started because of armed actions, including unmanned aerial vehicle attacks, air raids, tank shelling and employment of bullets. Those figures, he said, represented incidents where enough information had been compiled to warrant documentation, but the overall count is believed to be greater. He noted that many hundreds of minors had been injured.

"Although 'bombings and gunfire have slowed' during the truce, they have not ceased," the spokesperson told journalists at a UN briefing in the Swiss city by video from the Strip. "Therefore what the international community now terms calm would be considered a crisis in any other place," he concluded.

Another Winter of Struggle

Gaza’s population of over 2 million people has been fighting to keep the freezing temperatures and storms away while enduring shortages of assistance and a absence of sturdier transitional shelter, which is badly required during the colder season. This marks the third cold season after the conflict between Israel and the group began on 7 October 2023, when militants stormed into southern Israel and murdered approximately 1,200 individuals and abducted 251 more into Gaza.

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