Heavy rain flooded about 70,000 tents sheltering displaced Palestinians across the Gaza Strip within 12 hours, Gaza's Hamas-run government media office said on Saturday, as damaged infrastructure and shortages of shelter materials complicated the emergency response.
Gaza's civil defence service said it received about 1,500 distress calls as rain swept through displacement sites, while the government media office reported injuries but no deaths.
Residents in Gaza City and elsewhere tried to drain tents, reinforce shelters with sand and move children and belongings away from rising water.
The storm also affected damaged buildings, with civil defence reporting the collapse of three abandoned houses without injuries, according to Reuters.
Municipal and civil defence officials said fuel shortages and damage to vehicles and pumping equipment had limited their ability to respond.
The Gaza government media office blamed Israeli restrictions for shortages of shelter and reconstruction materials.
COGAT, the Israeli military body responsible for coordinating aid, did not immediately respond to that accusation, Reuters reported.
It said on Friday that it had worked with international organisations to improve sanitation ahead of the forecast rain and that four additional vacuum trucks had entered Gaza through the International Committee of the Red Cross that week, joining eight delivered during the previous month.
The flooding comes amid wider shortages documented before the storm.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on November 5 that Gaza still needed about 121,000 tents, 561,000 tarpaulins, 57,000 emergency shelter kits and 1.7 million mattresses for the cold and rainy season.
OCHA said available stocks inside Gaza included about 2,800 tents and fewer than 5,000 mattresses, while a $186.5 million funding gap remained against estimated winterisation requirements of $267.9 million.
Those figures indicate that the storm struck while humanitarian agencies were already warning that available shelter supplies were substantially below assessed needs.
A ceasefire that took effect on October 10, 2025 increased humanitarian deliveries but did not eliminate access constraints.
OCHA reported after its first month that around 80% of Gaza's population still lacked adequate shelter materials and essential household items.