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Powerful winter gusts brought walls down onto flimsy shelters sheltering people uprooted by war in Gaza, claiming the lives of at least four people. These deaths underscores the dangerous living conditions that persist after over two years of devastating airstrikes and severe shortages of aid.

Ceasefire Offers Little Relief from Harsh Weather

While a ceasefire has been active from October, humanitarian organizations state that Palestinians broadly lack the adequate housing necessary to survive frequent winter storms.

Medical staff at Gaza City's largest medical facility, which took in the bodies, said on this week that the dead were a pair of adult females, a girl, and a male adult.

In a separate incident, the local health authority stated on Tuesday that a one-year-old boy died of extreme cold during the night.

"The world has allowed us to witness death in all its forms," stated a family member following the burial. "It’s true the shelling may have temporarily stopped, but we have witnessed every conceivable cause of fatality in the world in the Gaza Strip."

Relatives Buried in Shelter Collapse

According to Shifa hospital, three members of a one family — elderly Mohamed Hamouda, his 15-year-old relative, and his daughter-in-law — were killed when an 26-foot tall wall fell on top of their dwelling in a area near the sea of Gaza City. At least 5 additional people were hurt in the incident.

Their relatives on that day began clearing the debris that had buried their loved ones and rebuilding the tent shelters for those who remained.

Humanitarian Efforts and Continuing Emergency

The UN and its humanitarian partners were handing out shelter kits, tarps, blankets and clothing as well as nutrition and hygiene items throughout Gaza, said the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs.

Most of Palestinians live in improvised shelters since their houses were turned into rubble during the war. Humanitarian organizations contend not enough building supplies are reaching Gaza during the ceasefire.

Casualty Numbers Since the Ceasefire

The Gaza health ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government, says over four hundred and forty people have been killed by Israeli fire and their bodies taken to hospitals after the truce went into effect. The authority keeps comprehensive casualty records that are seen as largely accurate by UN agencies and outside analysts.

James Elder, representing the UN children's fund, stated on that day that no fewer than one hundred minors under the age of 18 – 60 males and 40 females – had been lost their lives after the truce started because of military operations, such as drone strikes, air raids, artillery fire and employment of live ammunition. Those figures, he explained, reflected cases where sufficient information had been gathered to justify recording, but the overall count is expected to be higher. He noted that many hundreds of minors had been injured.

"Although 'bombings and shootings have slowed' during the truce, they have not stopped," Elder informed journalists at a UN briefing in the Swiss city by video from the Strip. "Therefore what the world now calls quiet would be viewed as a crisis in any other place," he concluded.

Third Cold Season of Hardship

Gaza’s population of more than 2 million people has been fighting to keep the freezing temperatures and storms away while facing shortages of assistance and a absence of sturdier temporary housing, which is urgently needed during the winter months. This marks the third winter since the conflict involving Israel and the group began on 7 October 2023, when fighters stormed into Israeli territory and killed approximately twelve hundred people and took hostage two hundred and fifty-one more into Gaza.

The local health authority says more than 71,400 people have been killed in the subsequent retaliatory offensive.