GAZA: Authorities in Gaza warned on Monday that more war-damaged buildings may collapse because of heavy rain in the devastated Palestinian enclave.
They said the weather was making it hard to recover bodies still under the rubble.
Two buildings collapsed in Gaza on Friday, killing at least 12 people according to local health authorities, amid a storm that has also washed away and flooded tents, and led to deaths from exposure.
Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in October after two years of intense bombardment and military operations.
I saw my son’s hand sticking out from under the ground. The scene affected me the most. My son is under the ground, and we are unable to get him out.
Mohammed Nassar, Gaza resident
However, humanitarian agencies say there is still very little aid getting into Gaza, where nearly the entire population is homeless.
Gaza Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal called on the international community to provide mobile homes and caravans for displaced Palestinians rather than tents.
“If people are not protected today, we will witness more victims, more killing of people, children, women, entire families inside these buildings,” he said.
Mohammed Nassar and his family were living in a six-story building that was severely damaged by Israeli strikes earlier in the war, and then collapsed on Friday.
His family had struggled to find alternative accommodation and had been flooded out while living in a tent during a previous severe weather event. Nassar went out to buy some necessities on Friday and returned to a scene of carnage with rescue workers struggling to pull bodies from the rubble.
“I saw my son’s hand sticking out from under the ground. The scene affected me the most. My son is under the ground, and we are unable to get him out,” Nassar said. His son, 15, died, as did a daughter, aged 18.
Later on Monday, the head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency said more aid must be allowed into Gaza without delays to prevent putting more displaced families at serious risk.
“With heavy rain and cold brought in by Storm Byron, people in the Gaza Strip are freezing to death,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini posted on X.
“The waterlogged ruins where they are sheltering are collapsing, causing even more exposure to cold,” he added.
Lazzarini said they have supplies that have been waiting for months to enter Gaza and would cover the needs of hundreds of thousands of the population of over 2 million.
UN and Palestinian officials said at least 300,000 new tents are urgently needed for the roughly 1.5 million people still displaced. Most existing shelters are worn out or made of thin plastic and cloth sheeting.
Gaza authorities are meanwhile still digging to recover around 9,000 bodies they estimate remain buried in rubble from Israeli bombing during the war, but they lack the machinery needed to expedite the work, spokesman Ismail Al-Thawabta said.
On Monday, rescue workers retrieved the remains of around 20 people from a multi-story building bombed in December 2023, where around 60 people, including 30 children, were believed to be sheltering.
Gaza authorities say Israel is not allowing in as much aid as promised under the truce.
Aid agencies say Israel is blocking essential items.
Israel says it is meeting its obligations and accuses agencies of inefficiency and failing to prevent theft by Hamas, which the group denies.
