Heavy rain and strong winds battered the tents of Gazans displaced by Israel’s onslaught, leaving many without any shelter for the coming winter.
The first heavy rainfall of winter arrived in Gaza this week, flooding tent encampments across the besieged Strip. With approximately 90 percent of the enclave’s population having been displaced from their homes, often several times, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are living in makeshift tents that are ill-equipped to withstand the elements. Gaza’s Government Media Office estimates that around 10,000 tents were either washed away or damaged due to this week’s storm.
One of the areas worst hit was a displacement camp that has sprung up along the beach in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. Many tents here were completely washed away by the rising tide, leaving residents with no shelter whatsoever. Civil defense authorities issued urgent warnings to remaining residents to evacuate due to fears that additional strong winds and storms could destroy what little is left.
For children living in these tents, the arrival of winter exacerbates their suffering and leaves them extremely vulnerable to respiratory infections and hypothermia. The damage to their flimsy shelters further exposes them to the severe cold and ongoing impacts of Israel’s onslaught, as their families struggle to survive another harsh winter.
Another camp nearby, Nahr Al-Bared, was also hit badly by the storm. “I live with my family in a tent made of blankets,” Falastine Hamed Tafesh, a resident of that camp, told +972 Magazine. “I fixed it a little while ago after it tore apart, but rainwater was still seeping in. Since Monday, the rain has flooded our tent, soaking all of our clothes.
“I have no way of keeping my children warm,” she continued. “I don’t know how I can provide clothes for them. My two daughters are sick, and I’m exhausted from repeatedly visiting hospitals to no avail. How can we live in a torn tent that neither protects us from the cold nor the rain? This is the third time my husband has asked ‘Where will we go?’ and I have no answer.”
Doaa Albaz is a Palestinian photographer from the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, currently displaced in Khan Younis. She is a member of the Activestills photography collective.
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