A severe winter storm hit the Gaza Strip on Thursday night – plunging the people there, who have been living in a war zone for more than two years, even deeper into distress. Hours of rain have turned the makeshift tent cities in the west of the area into a sea of mud and water. The situation is expected to worsen in the coming days.
Images from the al-Mawasi area, where the majority of displaced Palestinians have been living in camps set up by aid organizations for months, show tents collapsing under the pressure of the rains and stagnant water varnish that is failing to seep into the dry ground. The images come from independent photographers from the French news agency AFP.
The residents of al-Mawasi already live in precarious conditions and do not have sufficient protection from rain or cold. Shortly after the start of the war, Israel designated the area as a “safe zone” and urged civilians to seek protection there. Nevertheless, the armed forces had repeatedly attacked al-Mawasi from the air since then.
Videos are circulating on social media showing people with buckets and pots trying to get water from their tents. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz writes that many Palestinians seek shelter in public buildings, which are already overcrowded – and unheated.
A spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Thursday that many local civilians, especially small children and newborns, are at great risk from the approaching winter storm. Around 200 families asked to move to a new refuge in the south of the Gaza Strip.
Israelis missing on yacht trip
Israeli civilians are also likely to be in mortal danger due to the storm, albeit in a completely different way: According to Israeli media reports, a group that was traveling towards Cyprus on Wednesday in their motor yacht is missing. A plane from Cyprus with Israelis on board also had to divert into the airspace of Lebanon because of the storm – which is officially still at war with Israel. However, the plane was able to land in Israel.