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Strong winter gusts brought walls down onto flimsy shelters sheltering Palestinians uprooted by conflict in Gaza, claiming the lives of no fewer than 4 people. These deaths highlights the dangerous situation that persist after over 24 months of intense bombardment and severe lack of aid.

Truce Offers No Respite from Severe Elements

While a ceasefire has been active since October, humanitarian organizations report that residents do not have the sufficient shelter required to withstand frequent winter storms.

Officials at Gaza City's largest medical facility, which received the victims, reported on Tuesday that the dead include two women, a girl, and a male adult.

Separately, the local health authority announced on Tuesday that a 12-month-old infant succumbed of extreme cold overnight.

"International actors has allowed us to experience loss of life in all its forms," stated Bassel Hamouda following the burial. "While it is correct the bombing may have temporarily stopped, but we have seen all imaginable reasons of death in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Family Buried in Tent Collapse

According to Shifa hospital, 3 members of a one family — elderly a man, his 15-year-old relative, and his son's wife — were killed when an 26-foot high wall fell onto their dwelling in a coastal area of the city. No fewer than 5 additional people were injured in the event.

Their relatives on Tuesday began removing the rubble that had buried their loved ones and reconstructing the tent shelters for those who remained.

Humanitarian Efforts and Continuing Crisis

The UN and its aid organization allies were distributing tents, tarps, warm covers and clothes as well as nutrition and sanitation supplies throughout Gaza, stated the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs.

Most of Palestinians reside in improvised tents since their houses were turned into rubble during the war. Humanitarian organizations say not enough building supplies are entering Gaza during the ceasefire.

Fatality Figures Since the Truce

The Gaza health ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government, reports over four hundred and forty individuals have been killed by gunfire and their remains taken to hospitals since the truce went into effect. The authority maintains detailed fatality records that are considered generally reliable by UN agencies and outside analysts.

A spokesperson for UNICEF, representing the UN children’s agency Unicef, stated on that day that at least 100 children below eighteen years old – sixty boys and forty girls – had been killed after the ceasefire started due to armed actions, such as drone strikes, air raids, tank shelling and use of bullets. Those figures, he said, represented incidents where enough details had been compiled to justify documentation, but the overall count is believed to be greater. He added that many hundreds of minors had been wounded.

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

Third Winter of Hardship

Gaza’s residents of over 2 million individuals has been fighting to fend off the freezing temperatures and bad weather away while facing shortages of humanitarian aid and a lack of sturdier temporary housing, which is badly required throughout the winter months. This marks the 3rd winter after the conflict involving Israel and the group started on 7 October 2023, when militants stormed into southern Israel and killed approximately 1,200 individuals and abducted two hundred and fifty-one others into Gaza.

Gaza’s health ministry reports over 71,400 Palestinians have been fatally injured in Israel’s military campaign.