GAZA, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), Makeshift shelters in Deir al-Balah became deadly traps after heavy rains inundated hundreds of tents and a sand embankment collapsed onto a displaced family’s shelter.
Emergency responders struggled to manage the disaster amid a critical shortage of rescue equipment and an absence of safe alternatives for affected families.
The tragedy prompted Gaza’s Government Media Office (GMO) to demand immediate international action to address the disaster, holding Israel and the international community responsible for the worsening humanitarian conditions on the ground.
Five Palestinians, a woman and four children, were killed and six others injured last night when a sand embankment collapsed onto tents sheltering displaced families at a shelter in southern Deir al-Balah in central Gaza after a rainstorm battered the territory, according to Gaza’s civil defense service.
This tragic incident highlighted the life-threatening conditions facing displaced Palestinians in makeshift camps across the Gaza Strip, where thousands of families remain exposed to unsafe shelter conditions. The lack of essential resources and heavy rescue equipment further hampered emergency response efforts, underscoring the extreme vulnerability of those living in precarious shelters.
According to media reports, civil defense and health crews, assisted by local residents, worked to clear the massive sand collapse and retrieve the victims. However, the scale of the collapse and severe shortages of rescue equipment and resources significantly hampered operations. In some instances, residents were forced to rely on their own efforts and dig by hand to reach those buried beneath the sand.
The tragedy occurred as a violent winter storm swept across the Gaza Strip, bringing heavy rainfall that flooded hundreds of displacement tents. The downpour compounded the dangers facing thousands of families living in dilapidated shelters and areas stripped of basic infrastructure after years of war and repeated displacement.
In the aftermath of the disaster, GMO held Israel, the US administration, and the international community fully and directly responsible for the worsening humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip.
GMO said the incident in Deir al-Balah was a consequence of the ongoing war and blockade, alongside restrictions on the entry of shelter supplies, construction materials, and mobile housing units, as well as fuel and spare parts needed to operate municipal and civil defense machinery.
GMO added that the shrinking of designated displacement areas and the shifting of the so-called “Yellow Line” had pushed residents into increasingly hazardous locations, where even the most basic requirements for safety and habitable conditions were absent.
