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Powerful winter winds brought walls down onto fragile shelters housing people uprooted by war in Gaza, killing no fewer than four individuals. This tragedy highlights the perilous living conditions that persist after over two years of devastating bombardment and critical shortages of humanitarian assistance.

Ceasefire Provides Little Respite from Harsh Weather

While a ceasefire has been in effect from October, aid groups state that Palestinians broadly lack the sufficient housing required to withstand recurring cold-weather events.

Medical staff at Shifa hospital, which received the bodies, reported on Tuesday that the dead were two women, a girl, and a man.

In a separate incident, the local health authority announced on Tuesday that a 12-month-old infant died of extreme cold overnight.

"The world has enabled us to witness loss of life in all its forms," said a family member following the funeral. "It’s true the shelling may have paused for now, but we have seen all imaginable reasons of fatality in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Relatives Crushed in Tent Collapse

According to Shifa hospital, 3 members of a one household — 72-year-old Mohamed Hamouda, his teenage granddaughter, and his daughter-in-law — were killed 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 hurt in the event.

Their relatives on Tuesday started removing the rubble that had entombed their loved ones and rebuilding the tent shelters for those who remained.

Humanitarian Efforts and Ongoing Emergency

The UN and its humanitarian partners were handing out tents, tarps, blankets and clothing as well as food and sanitation supplies throughout Gaza, said the relevant UN coordination body.

Most of Palestinians live in improvised shelters because their homes were reduced to rubble during the hostilities. Humanitarian organizations say not enough shelter materials are entering Gaza under the truce.

Fatality Numbers After the Ceasefire

The Gaza health ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government, reports more than 440 people have been fatally shot by gunfire and their bodies taken to hospitals since the ceasefire began. The ministry keeps comprehensive fatality records that are considered largely accurate by international bodies and outside analysts.

A spokesperson for UNICEF, spokesperson for the UN children's fund, stated on that day that no fewer than one hundred minors below eighteen years old – 60 boys and 40 females – had been lost their lives after the truce began due to armed actions, such as unmanned aerial vehicle attacks, air raids, tank shelling and use of bullets. These numbers, he explained, reflected cases where sufficient information had been compiled to justify documentation, but the total toll is believed to be higher. He added that hundreds of children had been injured.

"Although 'bombings and shootings have decreased' under the ceasefire, they have not ceased," the spokesperson informed journalists at a press conference in the Swiss city by video from Gaza City. "So what the international community now calls calm would be viewed as a crisis in any other place," he concluded.

Another Cold Season of Hardship

Gaza’s population of over 2 million individuals has been fighting to keep the freezing temperatures and bad weather away while enduring lack of humanitarian aid and a absence of more substantial temporary housing, which is badly needed throughout the winter months. This marks the 3rd winter since the war involving the state and Hamas started on a date in late 2023, when fighters stormed into southern Israel and killed approximately 1,200 individuals and took hostage two hundred and fifty-one others into Gaza.

The local health authority says over 71,400 people have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive.