Heavy winter rains and strong winds have brought new dangers to displaced Palestinians in a Gaza devastated by Israel
\n Gaza City
\nSevere weather conditions are bringing further misery to displaced Palestinians in Gaza, who have already suffered relentless bombardment, siege and loss in Israel\u2019s genocidal war for more than two years, as Israel continues to block critical shelter and aid supplies into the territory.
\nFlimsy tents were flooded and makeshift camps engulfed in mud on Monday following heavy winter rains lashing the enclave in recent days.
\nThe harsh conditions have added to the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, most of whom are reduced to sheltering in tents and other makeshift structures since Israel\u2019s war destroyed an estimated 80 percent of the buildings there.
\nOfficials are warning that severe conditions also bring new dangers, with the threat of disease and illness as overwhelmed and damaged sewage systems contaminate floodwaters, and the risk that damaged buildings could collapse amid heavy rainfall.
\nAt least 15 people, including babies, have died this month from hypothermia following the rains and plunging temperatures, according to the authorities in Gaza.
\nTwo-month-old baby Arkan Firas Musleh was the latest infant to die Monday as a result of the extreme cold. Gaza\u2019s Ministry of Health also announced the death of a Palestinian man in a building collapse onto a tent in the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza City.
\nOn Sunday, a 30-year-old woman was killed when a partially destroyed wall collapsed onto her tent in the Remal neighbourhood to the west of Gaza City amid fierce winds, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.
\nOfficials have warned people not to shelter in damaged buildings, but the tents offer limited protection from the heavy rain and no real protection against flooding.<\/p>\n
Contaminated floodwater
\nReporting from Gaza City\u2019s Zeitoun neighbourhood, where most of the buildings have been reduced to rubble by Israeli attacks, Al Jazeera\u2019s Hind Khoudary said the heavy rains had created deep puddles and thick mud that was difficult to pass in places.
\n\u201cPeople are struggling to walk in those mud puddles,\u201d she said. \u201cThese are not only water, but it\u2019s also sewage, rubbish.\u201d
\nA team of municipal workers were trying to pump sewage from the overwhelmed network, amid reports of flooded tents from residents.
\n\u201cFamilies are saying that sewage water has been coming into their tents,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Calls for aid deliveries
\nAid groups have called for the international community to pressure Israel to lift restrictions on life-saving aid deliveries into the territory, which they say are falling far short of the amount called for under the US-brokered ceasefire.
\n\u201cMore rain. More human misery, despair and death,\u201d Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of UNRWA, the top United Nations group overseeing aid in Gaza, wrote on social media on Sunday.
\n\u201cHarsh winter weather is compounding more than two years of suffering. People in Gaza are surviving in flimsy, waterlogged tents and among ruins.\u201d
\nThere was \u201cnothing inevitable about this\u201d, he added. \u201cAid supplies are not being allowed in at the scale required.\u201d<\/p>\n
More Israeli attacks
\nMeanwhile, despite the ceasefire that came into effect on October 10, Israeli attacks on Palestinians have continued in Gaza.
\nThree Palestinians were injured on Monday when Israeli forces targeted the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza, a medical source told Al Jazeera Arabic.
\nWitnesses said the attack happened in an area from which Israeli forces had withdrawn under the ceasefire agreement.
\nWitnesses also reported an Israeli air raid on the eastern areas of the Bureij camp in central Gaza, artillery shelling east of Rafah and further Israeli attacks east of Gaza City, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.
\nA 20-point plan proposed by United States President Donald Trump in September called for an initial truce followed by steps towards a wider peace. So far, as part of the first phase, there has been the exchange of captives held in Gaza and prisoners in Israeli jails, and a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces from the enclave. However, it still occupies almost half of the territory.
\nHowever, Israeli attacks have not stopped, while humanitarian aid flows into the territory have not been what was promised.
\nSince the truce went into effect, more than 414 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,100 wounded in ceasefire violations, according to Gaza\u2019s Ministry of Health.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Heavy winter rains and strong winds have brought new dangers to displaced Palestinians in a Gaza devastated by Israel Gaza City Severe weather conditions are bringing further misery to displaced Palestinians in Gaza, who have already suffered relentless bombardment, siege and loss in Israel\u2019s genocidal war for more than two years, as Israel continues to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522885,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-522857","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n