Death toll rises to 17 due to cold and rain caused by polar storm in Gaza

MADRID, December 18 (EUROPA PRESS) –

At least 17 people, including four children, have died from the cold and rain resulting from a polar storm that has hit the Gaza Strip since last week and caused the collapse of houses and damage to dozens of tents used by people displaced by the Israeli military offensive after the October 7, 2023 attacks.

Most of the deaths are due to the cold and flooding, according to Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmud Basal, who regretted that dozens of houses have completely collapsed since the start of the storm.

“More than 90 buildings have suffered partial collapses, which represents a direct threat to the lives of thousands of people in Gaza,” he warned in statements reported by the newspaper ‘Filastin’, linked to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), which controls the authorities of the Palestinian enclave.

In this sense, he pointed out that almost 90 percent of the tents are “completely flooded” by the torrential rains, so that “thousands of citizens in various areas have lost their shelters” and “are left without possessions.” “This compounds their suffering,” he said.

In recent hours, medical sources confirmed the death of a 29-day-old baby, identified as Said Abdin, who lived in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned that 55,000 families and some 30,000 children in Gaza have been affected by the rains and that there is therefore an “urgent need to resume measures to ensure the protection of children”.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the weather conditions continue to cause “damage” to infrastructure, leading to “loss of lives”. “It is vitally important to provide humanitarian assistance, which includes supplies for the reconstruction of permanent shelters,” he said.

Previously, the Commissioner General of the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, denounced the fact that children in Gaza lacked “respite” from the “intense cold and floods” caused by storm “Byron”.

“Although the storm is a natural hazard, its consequences are man-made for a population forced to live among the ruins, in makeshift shelters or in tents,” he said, before specifying that “thousands of UNRWA team members are doing their utmost to pump water, distribute blankets and provide basic medical care.” “Much more could be done if aid could flow unhindered,” he concluded.