At least four people have been killed after heavy rain flooded camps sheltering tens of thousands in Gaza, according to UN agencies. Much of the enclave, including its sewage system, has been reduced to rubble by Israeli bombardment.
Heavy rain and strong winds, which are unusually intense for early November, battered the coastal territory for several days, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. Floodwaters swept through makeshift camps and tents, soaking mattresses, washing away belongings, and collapsing shelters.
At Al Berka Reservoir, west of Deir al-Balah, a rain-soaked sandy embankment collapsed onto tents, reportedly killing five people, including three children and two women, with an infant feared drowned, according to local rescuers cited by OCHA. UNICEF, however, reported four deaths in the collapse.
At least 5 people are dead and thousands more without shelter after heavy rains hit Gaza. While Israeli authorities are not responsible for the rain, they are responsible for the displacement of 1.9 million Palestinians and obstructing entry of humanitarian aid. https://t.co/sVTTpc5g7n
According to Gaza’s Government Media Office, around 70,000 tents were flooded within 12 hours. The UN separately recorded more than 6,000 family shelters destroyed and 17,400 damaged. UNICEF reported that around 950,000 displaced Palestinians live in flood-exposed areas, including 400,000 at extremely high risk.
The scale of the devastation is exacerbated by the aftermath of more than three years of Israeli bombardment, which destroyed or damaged 82% of structures, forcing vast numbers of Palestinians into flimsy tents, according to the UN.
Israeli attacks also ruined drainage and sanitation infrastructure, which was neglected before the conflict. According to UNICEF, not a single wastewater treatment plant in Gaza is operational, and just two out of six pumps at the Sheikh Radwan stormwater basin still function, raising the risk of sewage-contaminated floodwater overflowing into nearby neighborhoods.
The agency also stressed that it sought Israeli approval to bring in repair equipment for more than a year.
💔 HEARTBREAKING Scenes From GAZA Heavy rainfall floods displacement camps, soaking the few belongings Palestinian families have left. They are exposed to freezing wet conditions. Israeli restrictions on aid must be condemned. The world cannot look away https://t.co/xjs3bh1ztr
The UN humanitarian team suggested that Israel is responsible for the fallout, saying the damage was mainly caused “not by the storm alone, but by policy decisions.” It accused Israel of obstructing essential supplies and access to safer ground, noting that more than 150,000 tents were waiting outside Gaza for delivery.
Even the US-backed Board of Peace, established under President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan, criticized Israel’s handling of the crisis, warning that delays in approving shelter, sanitation, and drainage equipment “exacerbated the consequences of a foreseeable humanitarian challenge.”
An extremist Israeli settler says the deadly floods in Gaza are a "baptism" to prepare the land for Jewish settlement. They are literally cheering for children to drown because it makes the real estate easier to steal. Pure evil https://t.co/cDodLKFBRt
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the accusations, claiming that “Hamas alone is responsible for the suffering of the people of Gaza,” while urging the militant group to disarm. He also stressed that Israel facilitated the entry of more than 91,000 tents and thousands of truckloads of winter supplies.
Some Israelis publicly celebrated the flooding. According to Middle East Eye, Israeli weather forecaster Tzachi Peleg expressed “happiness” over images of submerged tents and said he wouldn’t mind if people do not survive. Social media user Elad Huminer also mocked the disaster, writing that Palestinians who wanted the ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ received the “Gaza Flood,” referring to Hamas’ name for its October 2023 attack.
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