On Monday, the Financial Times newspaper quoted aid officials as saying that winter rains threaten to flood the tents of hundreds of thousands of displaced people in the Gaza Strip with sewage, while the suffering of the displaced increases as the winter intensifies and the Gaza municipality is unable to provide services.
A spokeswoman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) told the newspaper that half a million people in Gaza are at risk of flooding and drowning in sewage once the rain falls.
She explained that the displaced people are trying to keep sewage water away from their tents while relying on portable bathrooms, noting that this is not possible because the areas are crowded with tents in light of the massive destruction of the infrastructure.
She warned that Gazans suffering from malnutrition face an additional risk of disease in the winter.
During the past few days, the tents of the displaced people sank on the shore of the Khan Yunis Sea in the south of the Gaza Strip due to the sea tide resulting from the winter, as the displaced people suffered from extreme cold.
The Civil Defense in Gaza stressed that dozens of displaced people are appealing for assistance as a result of their tents being submerged in rainwater.
The rain and winds resulting from the depression that struck the region exacerbated the tragic conditions of the displaced in the Gaza Strip, and flooded dozens of tents in the absence of heating means and an acute food shortage.
#video | “The water swept away our children.” The tents of the displaced people drowned on the shore of the Khan Yunis Sea in the south of the Gaza Strip due to the sea tide, and the disastrous conditions that the displaced people are experiencing as a result of the winter and cold weather. pic.twitter.com/qCvZUA39BQ
– Shehab News Agency (@ShehabAgency) November 25, 2024
Lack of services
With the intensification of winter and the risk of tents sinking, the Gaza Municipality stressed that crises are worsening in camps and shelter centers in light of the lack of services they can provide and the scarcity of aid that the occupation authorities allow to enter.
She warned that the current situation may lead to the exacerbation of diseases and the spread of epidemics, with overcrowding and a severe shortage of basic resources.
It confirmed that the burdens on its basic services have increased as a result of the widespread forced displacement of residents of the northern Gaza Strip governorate to Gaza City.
This is the second winter in which Palestinians in the Gaza Strip suffer from rainwater flowing into their tents, causing the spread of diseases.
