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Strong winter gusts brought walls down onto fragile tents sheltering people displaced by conflict in Gaza, killing at least four people. These deaths highlights the perilous living conditions that continue after more than two years of devastating airstrikes and severe shortages of humanitarian assistance.

Truce Offers Little Respite from Harsh Weather

Although a ceasefire has been in effect from October, humanitarian organizations state that Palestinians do not have the adequate shelter required to survive recurring cold-weather events.

Medical staff at Shifa hospital, which took in the victims, reported on Tuesday that the deceased were a pair of adult females, a young female, and a man.

In a separate incident, the local health authority stated on the same day that a 12-month-old infant died of hypothermia overnight.

"International actors has enabled us to witness death in all its forms," stated Bassel Hamouda after the funeral. "It’s true the shelling may have paused for now, but we have seen every conceivable cause of fatality in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Relatives Buried in Tent Collapse

According to Shifa hospital, 3 people of a single household — elderly a man, his 15-year-old relative, and his son's wife — were fatally injured when an 26-foot high wall collapsed onto their dwelling in a area near the sea of Gaza City. At least five additional people were injured in the incident.

Their relatives on Tuesday began clearing the debris that had buried their family and reconstructing the tent shelters for survivors.

Aid Efforts and Continuing Emergency

The UN and its aid organization allies were handing out tents, tarps, warm covers and clothes as well as nutrition and hygiene items across Gaza, said the relevant UN coordination body.

The majority of Palestinians live in improvised shelters since their homes were turned into ruins during the hostilities. Aid groups contend not enough shelter materials are entering Gaza under the ceasefire.

Fatality Numbers Since the Ceasefire

The Gaza health ministry, part of the administration, says over 440 people have been killed by Israeli fire and their bodies brought to hospitals since the ceasefire went into effect. The ministry keeps comprehensive casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by international bodies and independent experts.

A spokesperson for UNICEF, representing the UN children's fund, said on Tuesday that at least 100 minors below eighteen years old – 60 males and forty females – had been lost their lives since the truce began because of armed actions, including drone strikes, air raids, artillery fire and use of bullets. Those figures, he said, reflected incidents where enough information had been gathered to justify recording, but the overall count is believed to be greater. He added that hundreds of children had been injured.

"Although 'bombings and shootings have slowed' under the truce, they have not ceased," the spokesperson told journalists at a UN briefing in Geneva by video from Gaza City. "So what the world now calls calm would be considered a catastrophe anywhere else," he said.

Third Cold Season of Hardship

Gaza’s residents of more than two million people has been fighting to keep the freezing temperatures and storms at bay while facing lack of humanitarian aid and a lack of more substantial temporary housing, which is badly required throughout the colder season. It’s the 3rd winter since the conflict involving Israel and the group began on 7 October 2023, when fighters stormed into southern Israel and killed around twelve hundred individuals and abducted two hundred and fifty-one others into Gaza.

The local health authority says over 71,400 people have been fatally injured in the subsequent retaliatory offensive.