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Powerful winter winds brought walls down onto flimsy shelters housing Palestinians uprooted by conflict in Gaza, killing no fewer than four people. This tragedy underscores the perilous situation that continue after over 24 months of devastating airstrikes and critical lack of humanitarian assistance.

Truce Provides No Relief from Harsh Weather

Although a truce has been in effect from last fall, aid groups state that Palestinians do not have the adequate shelter required to survive recurring winter storms.

Medical staff at Gaza City's largest medical facility, which received the victims, said on Tuesday that the dead were a pair of adult females, a girl, and a male adult.

Separately, the local health authority stated on Tuesday that a one-year-old boy died of hypothermia during the night.

"The world has enabled us to witness death in all its forms," said Bassel Hamouda after the burial. "While it is correct the bombing may have temporarily stopped, but we have seen all imaginable reasons of fatality in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Family Crushed in Shelter Collapse

According to the medical center, 3 members of a single family — 72-year-old Mohamed Hamouda, his 15-year-old relative, and his son's wife — were killed when an eight-metre tall wall fell on top of their tent in a coastal area of the city. At least five additional people were injured in the incident.

Their relatives on Tuesday started removing the debris that had buried their loved ones and reconstructing the tent shelters for survivors.

Aid Distribution and Continuing Crisis

United Nations agencies and its humanitarian partners were handing out shelter kits, plastic sheeting, warm covers and clothing as well as nutrition and sanitation supplies throughout Gaza, stated the relevant UN coordination body.

The majority of the population reside in makeshift shelters since their houses were reduced to rubble during the war. Humanitarian organizations say not enough shelter materials are entering Gaza under the truce.

Fatality Numbers Since the Truce

The Gaza health ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government, reports more than 440 individuals have been fatally shot by gunfire and their bodies brought to hospitals since the truce went into effect. The ministry keeps comprehensive fatality records that are considered generally reliable by international bodies and outside analysts.

James Elder, spokesperson for the UN children's fund, said on that day that at least one hundred minors under the age of 18 – sixty males and 40 females – had been lost their lives after the truce began because of military operations, including drone strikes, air raids, artillery fire and use of bullets. These numbers, he explained, represented incidents where sufficient information had been compiled to warrant recording, but the overall count is believed to be higher. He added that many hundreds of children had been injured.

"Although 'bombings and gunfire have decreased' during the truce, they have not ceased," the spokesperson informed journalists at a UN briefing in the Swiss city by video link from Gaza City. "Therefore what the world now terms quiet would be considered a catastrophe in any other place," he said.

Another Cold Season of Struggle

Gaza’s population of over 2 million people has been struggling to fend off the freezing temperatures and bad weather at bay while facing shortages of humanitarian aid and a absence of more substantial temporary housing, which is urgently required throughout the colder season. It’s the 3rd cold season after the conflict between Israel and the group began on 7 October 2023, when fighters attacked southern Israel and killed around twelve hundred individuals and abducted 251 others into Gaza.

The local health authority says more than 71,400 Palestinians have been fatally injured in the subsequent retaliatory offensive.