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Strong cold-season winds caused walls to collapse onto fragile shelters sheltering Palestinians displaced by conflict in Gaza, claiming the lives of no fewer than 4 people. This tragedy underscores the perilous living conditions that persist after more than 24 months of devastating bombardment and critical lack of humanitarian assistance.

Ceasefire Offers No Relief from Harsh Elements

Although a truce has been in effect from October, humanitarian organizations report that Palestinians do not have the sufficient shelter required to withstand frequent cold-weather events.

Officials at Shifa hospital, which took in the bodies, said on this week that the deceased were a pair of adult females, a young female, and a male adult.

Separately, the Gaza health ministry announced on the same day that a one-year-old boy died of hypothermia during the night.

"International actors has enabled us to experience loss of life in every possible way," stated a family member after the burial. "It’s true the shelling may have paused for now, but we have witnessed every conceivable cause of fatality in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Relatives Buried in Shelter Collapse

According to Shifa hospital, three people of a one household — elderly a man, his teenage relative, and his daughter-in-law — were fatally injured when an 26-foot high wall fell onto their dwelling in a coastal area of Gaza City. At least 5 others were injured in the incident.

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

Aid Distribution and Ongoing Crisis

The UN and its aid organization allies were handing out tents, plastic sheeting, warm covers and clothing as well as food and sanitation supplies throughout Gaza, stated the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs.

Most of Palestinians live in makeshift shelters because their houses were turned into rubble during the hostilities. Aid groups contend not enough shelter materials are reaching Gaza during the truce.

Casualty Numbers After the Ceasefire

The Gaza health ministry, part of the administration, reports more than four hundred and forty people have been killed by Israeli fire and their remains taken to hospitals after the truce went into effect. The authority maintains comprehensive casualty data that are considered generally reliable by international bodies and outside analysts.

James Elder, spokesperson for the UN children’s agency Unicef, said on that day that no fewer than 100 minors under the age of 18 – 60 males and 40 girls – had been lost their lives after the truce started because of armed actions, including unmanned aerial vehicle attacks, air raids, tank shelling and use of bullets. Those figures, he said, reflected cases where sufficient information had been gathered to justify documentation, but the overall count is expected to be greater. He added that many hundreds of minors had been wounded.

"Although 'explosions and gunfire have decreased' under the truce, they have not ceased," the spokesperson informed reporters at a press conference in Geneva by video from the Strip. "Therefore what the international community now terms quiet would be considered a crisis anywhere else," he concluded.

Another Cold Season of Struggle

Gaza’s residents of over two million individuals has been struggling to keep the cold weather and storms at bay while facing lack of assistance and a lack of more substantial temporary housing, which is urgently required throughout the colder season. This marks the 3rd winter after the conflict between the state and Hamas started on 7 October 2023, when fighters stormed into southern Israel and killed around 1,200 people and abducted 251 more into Gaza.

Gaza’s health ministry reports over 71,400 people have been killed in the subsequent retaliatory offensive.