Heavy rain and strong winds have flooded around 70,000 tents across Gaza, leaving displaced Palestinian families exposed to cold, hunger and worsening living conditions as winter approaches, according to local authorities.
Gaza’s civil defence authorities declared a maximum state of emergency on Saturday (7 November), warning that rescue teams were struggling to cope with the scale of the damage.
Floodwater has reportedly reached 1.5 metres in some residential areas. Since the storm began on Friday, emergency teams have received 2,166 distress calls but managed to respond to only 218 due to limited resources.
In Nuseirat, central Gaza, families said they spent the night trying to keep water out of their makeshift shelters. Some tents were flooded, while others were torn away by strong winds.
Mohammed Shaar, a displaced resident, spent hours removing water from his tent with a plastic bucket. His blankets, mats and personal belongings were already soaked.
The rain began at around 01:00 while his family was asleep.
“Our tent was flooded and water poured right in,” he said, adding that his 28-year-old daughter, who has a disability, had been sitting in the water for hours.
His son, Mustafa Shaar, also described a sleepless night with his children huddled together on wet blankets.
“We're practically living in water,” he said, describing the family’s shelter as unable to protect them from rain, cold or heat.
Meanwhile, Samar Farhat said she spent hours desperately trying to clear water from her tent.
“My tent has been flooded. Our clothes, mattresses and food are all soaked. Even my husband, who is sick and bedridden, was surrounded by water from every direction,” she said.
Nearby, Ammar Musbeh said he fought through the night to keep his family safe as floodwaters rose around them. Using basic tools, residents across the territory rushed to dig trenches and build makeshift barriers to block incoming water.
“I spent ten hours carrying my children to keep them safe. Water kept pouring into our tent throughout the night, rising to more than a metre. I spent the night trying to drain it out. The tent has collapsed and is no longer fit to live in.”
The local Mayor of Gaza City Yahya Al-Sarraj called for proper housing as winter moves in.
“The tents are not suitable for winter or summer and we call for replacing them with mobile homes and proper housing units. This is not allowed until this moment by the Israeli occupation. The municipalities of Gaza are lacking the equipment, the tools. We don't have the heavy machines that are necessary for these conditions,” Al-Sarrah said.
The Gaza media office reported that dozens of walls had collapsed across the Strip, causing injuries. It estimated the storm had caused around $3 million in direct damage.
Palestinian Health Minister Majid Abu Ramadan warned that further rain and falling temperatures could make conditions even more dangerous for displaced families.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, nearly two million people in Gaza are living in around 270,000 tents and makeshift shelters. An estimated 60 to 85 per cent are damaged or unfit for use.
More than 400,000 displaced people are also living in areas particularly vulnerable to flooding or along the coastline.
Civil defence authorities have called for urgent access to rescue equipment, emergency vehicles and temporary shelters to help families cope with the worsening weather.
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Here's your AnewZ Daily Brief for 11 November. Today, we cover Russia-Ukraine peace talks, political tensions in Washington, strikes in Spain, ...
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Russia and Ukraine are set to return to Abu Dhabi on Tuesday for a fourth round of U.S.-brokered peace talks, with European participation, security guarantees and territorial disputes expected to shape the negotiations.
U.S. envoy Jared Kushner said Washington believes the Russian President is prepared to reach a peace agreement under the right conditions, as U.S., Russian and Ukrainian delegations began trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday 10 November.
Armenia could lose its voting rights within the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) on 11 November after failing to pay membership fees for more than two years, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.
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Israel’s newly elected parliament was sworn in on Tuesday amid political deadlock, with President Isaac Herzog urging lawmakers to avoid another election as Gadi Eisenkot struggles to form a government.
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The European Commission has confirmed that Georgian government representatives will not be invited to next week's EU Enlargement Forum in Brussels, while offering Tbilisi lower-level participation in a separate ministerial meeting on connectivity.
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