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Strong cold-season winds caused walls to collapse upon flimsy shelters housing people displaced by war in Gaza, killing at least 4 people. This tragedy underscores the dangerous living conditions that persist after more than two years of intense airstrikes and severe shortages of humanitarian assistance.

Truce Offers Little Respite from Severe Elements

Although a truce has been in effect since October, aid groups report that residents broadly lack the sufficient shelter required to survive recurring winter storms.

Medical staff at Shifa hospital, which took in the bodies, said on Tuesday that the deceased were a pair of adult females, a girl, and a male adult.

Separately, the Gaza health ministry announced on Tuesday that a 12-month-old infant died of extreme cold during the night.

"The world has allowed us to experience loss of life in all its forms," said a family member after the funeral. "While it is correct the bombing may have paused for now, but we have witnessed every conceivable cause of death in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Family Buried in Shelter Collapse

According to the medical center, three members of a single household — 72-year-old a man, his 15-year-old granddaughter, and his daughter-in-law — were killed when an eight-metre high wall fell on top of their tent in a coastal area of Gaza City. No fewer than five additional people were hurt in the event.

Their relatives on that day started clearing the debris that had entombed their family and rebuilding the tent shelters for survivors.

Humanitarian Efforts and Continuing Emergency

United Nations agencies and its humanitarian partners were distributing tents, plastic sheeting, blankets and clothes as well as nutrition and sanitation supplies throughout Gaza, stated the relevant UN coordination body.

Most of the population reside in improvised tents since their homes were turned into rubble during the war. Aid groups contend not enough shelter materials are reaching Gaza during the truce.

Casualty Numbers Since the Truce

Local health authorities, part of the administration, says more than four hundred and forty individuals have been fatally shot by Israeli fire and their remains taken to hospitals after the truce went into effect. The ministry keeps detailed fatality data that are considered largely accurate by UN agencies and independent experts.

James Elder, spokesperson for the UN children’s agency Unicef, said on that day that at least 100 children below eighteen years old – 60 males and 40 females – had been killed after the ceasefire started due to armed actions, such as unmanned aerial vehicle attacks, airstrikes, artillery fire and use of live ammunition. These numbers, he said, represented cases where enough details had been compiled to justify documentation, but the total toll is expected to be higher. He noted that many hundreds of children had been wounded.

"Although 'explosions and gunfire have decreased' during the ceasefire, they have not stopped," the spokesperson told journalists at a press conference in Geneva by video link from Gaza City. "Therefore what the world now calls calm would be viewed as a catastrophe anywhere else," he said.

Third Cold Season of Hardship

Gaza’s residents of over two million individuals has been fighting to fend off the freezing temperatures and bad weather at bay while facing lack of assistance and a lack of more substantial temporary housing, which is badly required throughout the winter months. It’s the third winter since the conflict between the state and Hamas began on a date in late 2023, when militants attacked Israeli territory and killed approximately twelve hundred individuals and abducted 251 more into Gaza.

Gaza’s health ministry reports over seventy-one thousand four hundred Palestinians have been fatally injured in Israel’s military campaign.