The collapse of Mohammad Nassar's home, a six-story building in Gaza, was a disaster foretold. It had been badly damaged by Israeli strikes earlier in the war and offered scant refuge for his family after flooding forced them from their tent. When Nassar returned from an errand last week, he found it reduced to rubble, with rescue workers struggling to pull bodies from the wreckage. “I saw my son’s hand sticking out from under the ground,” he said. “My son under the ground and we are unable to get him out.” His 15-year-old son and 18-year-old daughter were killed. This tragedy is not isolated. As a punishing winter storm named Byron battered the Gaza Strip, at least a dozen homes collapsed, killing a minimum of 12 people according to initial reports. The Gaza government has since stated the storm killed 11 Palestinians and caused an estimated $4 million in direct damage. For thousands of families sheltering in structures crippled by two years of intense bombardment, the heavy rains have created a new, deadly phase of the humanitarian catastrophe.
The immediate cause of the collapses is the winter storm, but the root cause is Israel’s military campaign. The “genocidal war,” as described by Gaza authorities, left thousands of residential buildings with cracked foundations, separated load-bearing walls, and partial roof collapses. These structures were already unstable, and the subsequent siege imposed by Israel has prevented the entry of any building materials needed for repairs or reinforcement. The recent heavy rainfall was a final trigger; water seeped into existing cracks, further weakening foundations, while saturated soil eroded beneath buildings. With nearly the entire population displaced and 1.5 million people homeless, families have had no choice but to occupy these damaged homes or pitch tents next to them, often with fatal consequences when walls gave way. Authorities estimate that around 9,000 bodies remain buried under rubble from earlier Israeli bombing, a recovery effort now hampered by the weather and a critical lack of heavy machinery.
The international response is severely hamstrung. Gaza Civil Defence teams struggle to evacuate people trapped under rubble due to shortages of heavy machinery, rescue equipment, and fuel, with roads often flooded. The spokesperson for Gaza Civil Defence, Mahmoud Basal, has urgently called on the international community to provide mobile homes and caravans instead of flimsy tents, warning that without immediate shelter, more families will die inside collapsing buildings. This call echoes a dire need, as the Government Media Office had earlier estimated that 93 percent of tents in Gaza were no longer suitable for habitation. While a U.S.-backed ceasefire has been in effect since October 10, humanitarian agencies stress that aid entering Gaza remains “severely limited” and Israel continues to impose strict restrictions on aid trucks, violating the humanitarian terms of the agreement. The Gaza Media Office holds Israel “fully and directly responsible” for the conditions and has urged the international community to pressure for the unconditional opening of crossings to allow shelter materials and emergency supplies.
The ongoing humanitarian disaster occurs amid a fragile and violated truce. Hamas officials have accused Israel of nearly 800 attacks since the ceasefire began, killing close to 400 people and blocking the free flow of aid, actions they say “threaten the viability” of the entire peace deal. Despite the ceasefire, Israel maintains control over more than half of Gaza’s territory, severely restricting the movement of displaced people who cannot relocate from at-risk areas. With no materials for repair, no safe alternative shelters, and the coldest months still ahead, the people of Gaza face an existential threat from the elements, a direct consequence of a war that has left their homeland in ruins and their future perilously uncertain.