Gaza floods leave 350,000 displaced Palestinians without shelter: Health Ministry

Gaza Health Ministry Director-General Munir al-Bursh appealed on Sunday for urgent shelter supplies, saying flooding had left 350,000 displaced Palestinians sleeping in the open. “Is the world waiting for our children to freeze?” he said, urging immediate action to protect children at displacement sites. Al-Bursh called for the opening of crossings to allow in tents and reconstruction materials. He said thousands of tents were waiting at the crossings, but the Israeli army was refusing to let them into Gaza.

Earlier Sunday, a woman and four children were killed and others injured when a landslide struck tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, said the Civil Defense. Rescuers were still searching for missing people. Heavy rain and strong winds have battered Gaza since Friday evening. The Government Media Office said 70,000 tents had flooded and dozens of walls previously damaged by Israeli bombardment had collapsed within the storm’s first 12 hours.

Civil Defense said Saturday that entire displacement camps had flooded, with water reaching 1.5 meters in some areas. Israel’s genocidal war, which began in October 2023, destroyed homes and infrastructure across Gaza, forcing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into makeshift shelters. Israeli restrictions on building materials, shelter supplies, and reconstruction equipment have continued despite a ceasefire in effect between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas since Oct. 10, 2025.