Climateupdated 1h ago3 min read
Archive photo · 23 February 2025Gaza Rainstorm Floods 70,000 Displacement Tents, Civil Defence Reports 1,500 Distress Calls
15 West Asian3 Other1 Israeli2 Other source typesPhoto: Jaber Jehad Badwan, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Cropped for layout
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About 70,000 tents housing displaced Palestinians flooded within 12 hours of the storm. Civil Defense logged more than 1,500 distress calls due to damaged tents and shelters.
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Storm hits tents
Heavy rains flooded about 70,000 tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip within 12 hours of the first winter storm of the season, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office. Gaza’s civil defence agency said its crews received about 1,500 distress calls in just 10 hours after the rain began early on Saturday, and water levels in several shelter sites rose by 30-40cm (12-16 inches). Civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal said, "What we feared has actually happened," as he described a few shelter centres being completely flooded and people forced out into the unknown.
Al Jazeera’s Nour Khaled reported from a camp in Gaza City that, "Even houses can’t hold up against this rain, so how can open plastic sheeting?" Gaza’s emergency committee warned that more than one million displaced people face a harsh winter and that the territory urgently needs about 200,000 tents along with heating supplies.
Calls, collapses, blame
Gaza’s civil defence agency said it received 2,166 distress calls since the storm began Friday evening, and it said crews were able to respond to only 218 as rainwater flooded dozens of displacement camps and shelters. Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal told Anadolu that crews evacuated residents from a three-story house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza after part of it collapsed in the wind and rain. Anadolu reported that five Palestinians were injured after heavy rain and strong winds caused two walls to collapse and a sheet of corrugated metal to fall, with Civil Defense crews responding to four separate collapses involving homes damaged by previous Israeli strikes.
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said in a statement that the humanitarian catastrophe reflects the international community’s failure to compel the Israeli occupation to lift its siege on Gaza and ensure the entry of the necessary humanitarian and relief aid. Gaza’s Government Media Office held Israel "fully responsible" for what it called a disaster caused by the continued closure of crossings and the blocking of shelter and reconstruction materials.
What comes next
Gaza’s emergency committee said the territory urgently needs about 200,000 tents along with heating supplies, while the Gaza Center for Human Rights warned that about 950,000 Palestinians live in displacement sites exposed to flood hazards. The Gaza Center for Human Rights said UN humanitarian data indicate a need for about 294,000 families to receive shelter assistance in preparation for winter, while available supplies are only enough for about 52,000 families, equal to 18% of the actual needs. Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed said the government’s information office announced on Saturday the flooding of 70,000 tents and that Civil Defense said it had received more than 1,500 distress calls since the onset of the low-pressure system.
“This is the first day of rain, and of course we are already flooded.”
Al Jazeera’s correspondent Ghazi al-Aloul said thousands of families had pitched tents along the shoreline, where they face strong winds and rising tides, adding, "These tents will flood first from the rain, and second from seawater." Reuters reported that municipal and civil defence officials said they were unable to cope because of fuel shortages and damage to equipment, and it quoted Olfat Magdoub saying, "This is the first day of rain, and of course we are already flooded."